


Previously, On "Chaotic Stupid"...

by Lenni51074



Series: To The Moon And Back [5]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: And we like it, Angst, But Griffin is a good bro, F/M, Fluff, Implied Sexual Content, Keith is in charge now, Life-bonds, Reader has issues with her parents, Readers reunion with Griffin is totes awkward, homeward bound
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-12
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:27:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 41,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24139609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lenni51074/pseuds/Lenni51074
Summary: Team Voltron makes the decision to return to Earth. But you soon discover that the situation on your homeworld is more dire than you dared to imagine, and that the struggle you faced at the far end of the universe was just the beginning.You and Keith forge new friendships at the Galaxy Garrison as you attempt to bring an end to the Galra Empire once and for all.
Relationships: Allura (Voltron) & Reader, Hunk (Voltron) & Reader, James Griffin (Voltron)/Reader, Keith (Voltron)/Reader, Lance (Voltron) & Reader, Pidge | Katie Holt & Reader, Shiro (Voltron) & Reader
Series: To The Moon And Back [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1654015
Comments: 80
Kudos: 82





	1. The Memories Bring Back You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Shiro lies comatose, he remembers the beginnings of his relationships with both you and Keith.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter based on Series 7, Episode 1: “A Little Adventure”
> 
> Flashbacks are in italics.
> 
> Also, don't forget that the Paladins lost three years after the Castle of Lions blew up, so hence why the memories seem so long ago. I decided to place these in real time, rather than the perceived timeline that Keith and Y/N would have of these events.

**_Galaxy Garrison, twelve years ago…_ **

_“Y/N, guess who’s come to spend a few hours with you while your mother and I go out for dinner with the Admiral.” Your father smiled indulgently at the young man who stood in the doorway._

_“Shiro!” you cried happily, running towards the dark-haired teen. The young cadet had quickly become your favourite person in the entire world, indulging you far more than your parents ever did. He was fun, smart and never treated you like a dumb little kid. He seemed to enjoy your company just as much as you enjoyed his._

_“Hey, Princess!” Shiro grinned as he scooped you up, pressing a noisy kiss to your chubby cheek. “Have you grown again? Soon you’re going to be as tall as me!”_

_You giggled. “I’m never gonna be as tall as you. You’re a giant!”_

_He laughed. “Only compared to you, Munchkin. But maybe, if you eat all your vegetables, you might be as tall as me one day.”_

_“Meanie,” you pouted. You were a typical six-year-old. Vegetables were the enemy._

_With the attention span of a six-year-old, though, you instantly forgot unpleasant talk about food you hated in favour of a much more interesting topic. “Shiro, when are you gonna fly to space? Will you take me with you when you go? I wanna see the moon.”_

_Shiro nodded his head solemnly. “I promise you, Princess, one day I will take you with me to the far reaches of the universe. We’ll go to places you’ve never even dreamed about. There’s so much out there yet to be discovered, and you” – a boop to your nose to emphasise the point caused you to giggle – “are going to help me find it.”  
_

_“Yay!” You threw your arms around his neck. “I love you, Shiro!”_

_Shiro put you down and told you to pick a movie to watch together, and you scampered away as fast as your little legs could carry you._

_Your mother looked at Shiro sternly. “You should stop filling her head with such nonsense, Takashi. She’ll have her head in the clouds for months.”_

_“She’s a kid, let her dream,” Shiro said. “There’s plenty of time for her to grow up and be serious later on.”_

**************************************

**_Galaxy Garrison District Middle School, six years ago…_ **

_“I’ve got a special guest with me today,” your teacher was saying in an excited tone. “I’m sure you all recognise him. He’s the youngest pilot ever to lead a mission into space - Takashi Shirogane.”_

_“Thanks for having me,” Shiro grinned._

_You tried to suppress your eye roll as Shiro beamed at everyone. You’d known him since you were six years old – so, basically forever – and in the nearly ten years you’d known him, practically every Garrison leader had sung his praises. Even your parents couldn’t speak highly enough of him. Really, it would be boring if he weren’t so awesome._

_The teacher rambled on and on about Shiro’s accomplishments, and as he was without question the one pilot every student in the district idolised, everyone was practically hanging on every word._

_Everyone except for yourself – and one other._

_As usual, the new kid – Keith, you remembered his name was – was staring out of the window, not paying attention to anyone or anything. You would have thought that someone of Shiro’s calibre would have been enough to rouse his interest, but so far he seemed more intrigued by the outside world than the hero standing in front of him._

_Shiro smiled at everyone as he spoke. “The Galaxy Garrison has sent me to schools in the area to help find the next generation of astro-explorers. Who’s ready to find out if they’ve got what it takes?”_

_Naturally, James Griffin was the first one to put up his hand. You didn’t even bother trying to stop your eye roll this time. Griffin was the top student in the class – and the teacher’s pet – and always thought he was better than everyone else. Well, he was, but did he always have to remind everybody of that fact every second of every day? You might have hated him if he wasn’t so cute._

_Shiro laughed as almost the entire class jumped out of their seats, wildly waving their hands in the air. “Well, in order to do that, we’re going to give you a test…”_

_“Aw, man!” Griffin led the chorus of groans. Tests were a pain in the butt._

_“… by playing a video game,” Shiro continued, as if he hadn’t been interrupted._

_ That _ _caught the attention of everybody in the room, except of course for Keith. He was still too busy looking out the window to care what was going on with the rest of you._

_You flicked a wad of paper at Keith’s head, suppressing your grin as he turned and glared at you. “Hey, space cadet. We’re ditching class to try and beat Shiro at a video game. You in?”_

_He gazed at you for half a heartbeat, before shrugging almost imperceptibly and following you out of class._

_You pushed your way to the front of the class as Shiro addressed them, ignoring the protests of the other students. You were the shortest in the class, besides Keith, and you wanted to be able to see what was going on. You hip-bumped Griffin out of the way, and he bumped you back._

_Shiro was standing in front of what looked like a flight simulator of some kind. “Introducing the Orbit Axiom X, the Galaxy Garrison’s most advanced flight simulator. Cadets not much older than you use simulators just like this to train to become the next generation of space explorers. Now, let’s see what you’ve got.”_

_Griffin was practically drooling at the thought of getting into the simulator._

_Shiro glanced around, and ignored your not-so-subtle gestures that he should pretend not to know you. “Y/N, why don’t you go first?”_

_“Woah! You know Shiro?” Griffin stared at you as if he might suddenly respect you._

_“Trust me, he’s not that cool,” you muttered, as you playfully shoved Shiro out of the way. He just grinned down at you. He knew of your aspirations to join the Garrison as a mechanic, and of your parents hopes that you would follow your father’s footsteps as a navigator, and so he wanted you to have the opportunity to test your skills to see if you were Garrison material._

_You made it through the first three checkpoints before you crashed halfway through the fourth. Most of the other students didn’t get past the first checkpoint._

_Griffin made it just as far as you did before he, too, crashed, but of course he acted as if he’d outflown everyone._

_Shiro stood with his hands on his hips. “We’ve had some great tries but nobody’s made it past the third level yet. Looks like you’re the only one who’s left.”  
  
He looked expectantly at Keith, who seemed stunned to have been noticed by someone. Everyone else in the class had ignored him as he’d sat off to the side, hoping to be left alone._

_“Think you’ve got what it takes?” Shiro asked._

_Keith sat at the controls, not even seeming to concentrate as he flew effortlessly through each checkpoint. It wasn’t until he’d made it past Level Five that Griffin finally noticed what was happening._

_“What? No way! Keith made it past Level Five? This thing’s gotta be broken.”_

_“Shut up, Griffin,” you snapped. For some reason, his dismissal of Keith’s effort irritated you. “Just because you crashed and burned, it doesn’t give you the right to get upset when someone shows you up for a change.”_

_The teacher handed Shiro a datapad. “I’ve compiled a list of students who I think would be the best candidates for the Garrison.”  
_

_Shiro scanned the page, noting with some pride that your name was near the top of the list. Then he frowned. With his thumb, he indicated Keith, who was now halfway through Level Seven. “Is this guy on there? Looks like he’s just about ready to fly the real thing.”_

_“Keith?” The teacher looked shocked that Shiro had suggested such a thing. “He’s a bit of a discipline case. I don’t think he’d necessarily fit in with the rigid Garrison culture.”_

_Keith’s teeth clenched as he tried to shut out the hurtful comments, but you noticed the anguish on his face. You didn’t know why, but it upset you to see him being treated as if he were worthless. Even though you weren’t friends – far from it – you suddenly found yourself feeling protective of him._

_Unsurprisingly, the teacher was singing the praises of James. He had the highest grades in school, and was the favourite of most of the teachers as a result. Naturally, Griffin began gushing about meeting Shiro and how much he hoped to be like him one day._

_Before Shiro could say anything, the flight simulator beeped. He turned to find that it was flashing “FAIL”. He noted the empty seat where Keith had been sitting only moments before. It took him less than half a second to realise that you were also missing._

_Then he heard an engine roaring to life, and looked up in time to see a car speeding away._

_His car._

**************************************

_Shiro walked out of the Juvenile Detention Centre with both you and Keith in tow._

_“I don’t get it,” Keith said. “I steal your car, and you respond by helping me out?”_

_“Yeah, so you owe me one.” Shiro got in the car and buckled himself in, while you wordlessly hopped in the passengers seat. He handed Keith a small card. “Be at this address tomorrow at 0800 hours.”  
  
When Keith looked at him with surprise, Shiro spoke to him sternly. “You’re getting a second chance.”_

_Without another word, he drove off, leaving Keith staring after him._

**************************************

_“So, you want to explain that little stunt back there, Princess?” Shiro asked as he drove back to the Garrison._

_You rolled your eyes. “So I helped the emo kid steal your car. Big deal. It’s not like he doesn’t know how to drive. He’s a better driver than you are.”_

_Shiro ignored your jibe. “You should have stopped him. Instead, you aided and abetted him.”_

_“I did try to stop him, Shiro! Why do you think I was in the car in the first place? But Keith doesn’t listen to anybody, least of all me.”_

_“Y/N, you can’t keep doing things like this just to get your parents’ attention,” Shiro groaned._

_You crossed your arms mutinously in front of your chest. “It’s not like they notice anything I do, anyway.”_

_Shiro sighed. “They just want what’s best for you.”_

_You gave an unladylike snort. “Yeah. That’s why they couldn’t be bothered coming to bail me out themselves. They sent you to do it. They can’t be seen dragging their precious daughter out of juvie; it would be super embarrassing to have to admit to Admiral Sanda that their kid is a delinquent.”_

_“I don’t know why you are so insistent on getting yourself into trouble,” Shiro said seriously. “You know that things like this could seriously jeopardise your efforts to get into the Garrison.”_

_This time it was you who sighed. “What’s the point of even getting into the Garrison if I can’t do a mechanic apprenticeship? You know as well as I do that my parents are pushing for me to study navigation instead. They don’t care about what I want, so why should I even try?”_

_“Because you can prove them wrong, Y/N,” Shiro told you. “Prove everyone wrong. Especially yourself. You have what it takes to be a valuable member of the Galaxy Garrison, no matter what you do. You just need to believe it.”_

_You finally looked at your friend, who stared back at you steadily. With a groan, you flung yourself melodramatically back into your seat. “ Fine. I’ll try to be good from now on. But only because it’s you doing the asking.”_

_“Thanks, Princess,” Shiro smiled._

**************************************

**_Present day…_ **

The Paladins gathered around the pod containing Shiro, still comatose after Allura infused the clone body with his spirit.

“Is… is he going to be okay?” Hunk asked worriedly.

Allura sighed. “Only time will tell if this body will accept Shiro’s consciousness.”

Keith stood with his hands pressed to the healing pod, his face contorted with worry. You wrapped your arms around his waist, partly to comfort him and partly to help keep yourself upright. You were still recovering from your recently healed injuries, and were still feeling slightly unsteady on your feet.

“Is there anything we can do to help?” asked Lance, wanting desperately to be useful.

“I’ve tried contacting the Voltron Coalition, but I can’t get through to anyone,” Pidge moaned. “It doesn’t make any sense. There _might_ be some distortion I’m just not picking up on? Maybe we need to get into the upper atmosphere for a better signal…”

“The Lions aren’t going anywhere without recharging their power cores,” Hunk reminded the tiny girl.

Allura wearily hung her head. “The battle with Lotor severely depleted them. If we had the Castle of Lions, we could recharge them, but…”

“Is there another way to recharge them?” you asked softly.

“They can recharge naturally, given enough time and ambient energy,” replied Coran. “But that might take phoebs.”

Keith looked up. “There’s gotta be something we can do.”

Coran looked thoughtful. “Well, we _are_ on the Dalterian Belt. Home to the element Phonitonium. We may be able to use it as a temporary solution.”

“Phonitonium?” Lance asked. “How will that charge the power cores?”  
  
“Well, you see, it involves gluon field fluctuations…” Coran began explaining.

Lance held up a hand. “You know what, never mind. Magic or somethin’? Sure.”

Coran seemed surprised by Lance’s comment. “Not far off. We’re going to use the element to expand the energy particles within the cores. But first, we’re gonna need a yalmor…”

“Wait, wait, wait. There are yalmors on this planet?” Hunk did not seemed pleased to learn this little fact.

“How do you think we find the Phonitonium?” Coran asked him. “Those yalmors have a nose for the stuff.”

Keith nodded. “Okay. You guys find a yalmor and get this Phonitonium stuff. I’ll stay with Shiro.”

You nudged him. “ _We’ll_ stay with Shiro.”

Krolia came and stood beside her son, silently letting him know that she would also stay beside him while he kept vigil over Shiro.

“I’ll stay as well,” announced Allura. “I may have exhausted the limits of what I learned on Oriande, but I still might be able to help in some way.”

“All right, then. We’ll get started.” Coran and the other Paladins left to prepare themselves to search for the yalmors.

Romelle seemed confused. “Wait. You just fought Lotor, defeated him, stopped an explosion that could have destroyed reality, took your friend’s consciousness from the Black Lion of Voltron and put it inside his clone, and now we’re simply _moving on?”_

Hunk gave her a look that said he understood exactly where she was coming from. “Trust me, I’m always saying these kinds of things, but these guys like to move on.”

Romelle gave a sigh of disgust before following the others.

Allura looked at Keith’s concerned expression. “He’s going to be okay, Keith.”

“I hope so,” said Keith softly. “You can’t imagine all he’s done for me. For _us.”_

He squeezed your hand, and you rested your head on his shoulder as the two of you stared at the man who had unintentionally brought the two of you together all those years ago.

**************************************

**_Galaxy Garrison, five years ago…_ **

_Keith stood staring at the shuttle in awe. He’d never seen anything so beautiful in his life. What he wouldn’t give to fly in something like that one day. Leave all his troubles behind, forget about everything except the possibilities in the universe beyond…_

_Shiro came and stood beside him. “That’s the Calypso. The first ship to carry astronauts to the moons of Jupiter.”_

_“It took them three years to get there,” Keith replied. “Longest voyage of its kind.”_

_“That’s right. Reading about that mission is what made me want to be a pilot. Those astronauts braved the unknown. People can accomplish incredible things if they’re willing to put in the time and effort.” Shiro looked down at the sullen boy standing beside him. “I want to help you, Keith. I think you’ve got a lot of potential. But what you decide to do with that potential is up to you.”_

_Keith looked back at the Calypso. He knew what he wanted to do. He just didn’t know if he was brave enough to do it._

**************************************

**_Present day…_ **

Allura looked at Shiro’s vitals with consternation. “His levels are getting dangerously low.”

“Fight,” Keith urged his mentor. “I _won’t_ give up on you.”

**************************************

**_Galaxy Garrison, five years ago…_ **

_“Bank right and maintain heading at two point zero seven degrees,” Shiro’s voice directed through the comms of each flight simulator. Each of you did as instructed, before he gave another direction. “Increase throttle by thirty-five percent and bank left.”_

_Keith yawned. This was so boring. He could fly this thing in his sleep._

_Shiro looked at the vid-screen as the simulation showed all of you in formation. “Increase elevation fifteen degrees.”_

_Hunk’s voice sounded pained. “Ugh. I’m getting dizzy. I knew I shouldn’t have eaten so much. Ohhhhh, make it stop.”_

_He leant on the controls, and his simulator dropped out of formation._

_Keith suddenly broke away, hitting Lance as he flew around the group and came around the back.  
  
“Fall in line, Cadet!” growled Commander Iverson._

_“Sorry, just testing my controls,” Keith said in a bored tone. “Stick’s loose.”_

_“Your brain is loose, Flyboy,” you hissed. “Quit showing off.”_

_“Keep this up, and you’ll be stuck as a cargo pilot,” Lance muttered._

_Griffin also stuck his oar in. “Yeah, Keith. You’re gonna get us in trouble.”_

_“Decrease elevation by twenty-two degrees,” Shiro instructed, hoping to bring everyone’s focus back to the lesson._

_Once again, Keith shot off on his own, causing everyone to groan in unison. “KEITH!”_

_The simulators powered down as Iverson stalked down to the hangar to yell at everyone. “Hope you all like it in the simulator. You can thank Pilot Fancypants over there for the privilege of spending the next three weekends in here running drills!”_

_Keith ignored the Commander, staring blankly ahead as if he couldn’t hear him. Iverson scowled with his one good eye, before stalking off to yell at Shiro for bringing him such an undisciplined batch of rookies._

_Griffin glared at Keith. “Thanks a lot.”_

_“My pleasure,” Keith deadpanned._

_“We all know the only reason you’re here is because of Shiro,” Griffin added._

_An alarm bell went off in your head. “Shut up, James!”_

_Keith returned Griffin’s glare with one of his own. “I can outfly anyone in this building.”_

_Griffin smirked. “Oh yeah? Is that what Mommy and Daddy told you before…”_

_Keith decked him, and as Commander Iverson turned around to see what all the fuss was about, Keith jumped on Griffin and pulled his fist back to punch him again. Iverson pulled him away before he could do more damage._

_“Knock it off!” He dragged the struggling Keith away, while Griffin sat on the floor, wiping the blood from his mouth._

_“You deserved that, you know,” you said as you helped him stand up._

_“Oh, so you’re on his side, are you? Can’t stand to see your little crush get in trouble?” James sneered._

_“You’re such a jerk, Griffin!” You stomped off, wondering why it bothered you so much that he always picked on the loner. Or why you felt so embarrassed when he’d said you had a crush on Keith. The nerve of him!_

_The very idea was ludicrous._

**************************************

_Shiro looked at Keith, sitting forlornly outside Admiral Sanda’s office. “Hey.”_

_With a scowl, Keith muttered, “Look, I know I messed up. You should just send me back to the Home already. This place isn’t for me.”_

_“Keith, you can do this,” Shiro insisted. “I won’t give up on you. But more importantly, you can’t give up on yourself.”_

_Keith’s eyes widened in surprise, before the scowl returned to his face. “You don’t even know me.”_

_“You’re right. I don’t. But sometimes we all need a hand.” Shiro held his out to Keith. Before Keith could take it, you stomped down the hallway, your expression furious._

_To Shiro’s surprise, you stormed into the Admiral’s office, not bothering to knock or even wait for an invitation to enter. The Admiral’s outraged tone could be heard clearly in the hallway. “Cadet Y/L/N, what on Earth is the meaning of this?”_

_“I sincerely hope that you’re going to punish Cadet Griffin as severely as you do Cadet Kogane, seeing as how he is the one who instigated things,” you said, looking the Admiral in the eye without the fear that most of the cadets held when dealing with the stern woman._

_“I beg your pardon?” the Admiral said, her tone indicating her displeasure at being addressed in such a manner by a cadet._

_“Y/N…” James said, his tone one of betrayal._

_You ignored him as you continued to stare at the Admiral. “James has been bullying Keith for months. He said something really nasty and Keith overreacted, but he wouldn’t have reacted that way if James hadn’t been constantly tormenting him in the first place. If Keith gets punished, then James should be, too.”_

_Admiral Sanda looked at you with narrowed eyes, before turning her gaze upon the unfortunate Griffin. “Is this true?”  
  
“Well, um…” James had the good grace to look embarrassed._

_The Admiral gave you a curt nod. “I will take note of your statement, Cadet, and see to it that both young men are reprimanded accordingly. Dismissed.”_

_You walked out of the Admiral’s office, nose in the air. Noticing Keith staring at you with open-mouthed shock, you gave him a brief nod, before heading back to the officer’s quarters without saying a word._

_You were surprised when you heard footsteps running after you. Turning to see who it was, you were even more surprised to find that it was Keith. Shiro followed close on his heels._

_“Why did you stick up for me?” the raven-haired boy asked without preamble._

_“Because it was the right thing to do.” You crossed your arms in front of your chest. “Just because we don’t get along doesn’t mean I think you should get in trouble for every little thing that goes wrong. Especially when James started it.”_

_Keith tilted his head to the side, as if you were a puzzle he couldn’t quite figure out. “But you don’t like me.”_

_You shrugged. “I don’t really like James a lot of the time, either, but I’d stick up for him if somebody else was at fault. You can do nice things for people even if they aren’t your friends.”_

_“Friends.” Keith said the word as if it was unfamiliar.  
  
Your expression softened slightly. “You know, everybody needs friends. Nobody should be on their own, especially in a place like this.”  
  
Keith looked at you as if he wanted to accept your unspoken invitation of friendship, before hardening himself up again. It was a trap; it had to be. There was no way someone like you would ever want to be friends with him. A clever, funny, feisty ball of energy like you could never be friends with someone like him. He wasn’t going to fall for it. He wasn’t going to let you make a fool out of him._

_“I’ve got Shiro. I don’t need anyone else. Especially a spoiled princess who’s only here because her parents pulled strings to get her accepted into the Garrison in the first place!”_

_You winced as if he slapped you. Tears of rejection filled your eyes. “Fine! I don’t want to be friends with a jerk like you anyway! Be alone for all I care!”_

_Keith stared after you as you ran sobbing down the hallway, wondering why it felt as if he’d just lost his best friend._

**************************************

_“Hey, Princess,” Shiro said as he found you, as anticipated, on the rooftop of the Garrison. It was your refuge, the place you came whenever you needed time to think._

_“Stop calling me that,” you muttered mutinously._

_Shiro came and sat next to you. “I gave you that nickname when you were six years old. You used to love it.”_

_You glared at him through eyes red from crying. “Yeah, well, now I hate it. Kei… the other cadets call me that because they all think I’m a spoiled brat who’s only in the Garrison because my parents bribed the other officers into admitting me into the academy.”_

_“That’s not true, Y/N,” Shiro said._

_You rolled your eyes. “You think I don’t know what the other cadets say about me, Shiro? I know what their perception of me is.”_

_“Y/N…”_

_“And they’re right,” you whispered. “I don’t deserve to be here. I’m not good enough.”_

_Shiro wrapped an arm around your shoulders as you started crying again. “Y/N, listen to me. I know how hard you have worked to get to this point. You are more than capable enough of getting through this. I believe in you.”_

_You wiped your eyes. “But…”_

_“No ‘buts’. You are smart, and diligent, and reliable, and you have the ability to adapt to whatever is thrown at you. Plus, you are a team player; just look at the way you stood up for Keith today. Those are all qualities that the Garrison is looking for. Believe me when I say that Commander Iverson wouldn’t let you continue with your training if he didn’t think you deserved to be here.”_

_You rested your head against your friend’s shoulder. “I hope you’re right, Shiro.”_

_“When have I ever lied to you? Now come on. It’s taco night in the cafeteria, and I know that’s your favourite.” He held out a hand to help you up._

_You gave him a watery smile. “Tacos do sound pretty good right now.”_

_“That’s my girl.”_

**************************************

**_Galaxy Garrison, four years ago…_ **

_Shiro looked over his shoulder as Keith struggled to keep up with him. “Come on, catch up!”_

_With a laugh, he pushed his hoverbike even faster._

_He was impressed at the teen’s natural skill. Keith dodged and weaved through the canyon as easily as walking. It was like he’d been flying all his life. His instincts were incredible._

_They came to the edge of a high cliff, and Keith watched in amazement as Shiro pushed the throttle to full speed before sending the hoverbike over the edge. Keith came to a halt at the cliff’s edge, expecting to see Shiro smashed to pieces at the bottom of the ravine, before he noticed the older man’s hoverbike speeding off. Somehow, he’d managed to pull up in time._

_Keith followed a safer path to the bottom of the cliff, before catching up to Shiro. “Okay, you won this round, but I’ll get you in the next race, old-timer!” he laughed as he dismounted from his hoverbike._

_Shiro chuckled. “I don’t doubt it.”_

_“How’d you do that dive, anyway?” Keith asked._

_“You like that one, huh? It’s all about timing. You pull up too soon and you won’t have the momentum needed to create lift; too late and there won’t be enough lift to avoid the crash.”_

_Keith looked thoughtful. “You think I’m ready to try that?”_

_“What do you think?”_

_Reluctantly, Keith said, “Maybe I should be patient, and keep focussing on the basics first.”_

_“You’re learning,” Shiro smiled. “So, you grew up out here?”  
  
Keith looked out over the desert landscape. “Yep. Just me and my Pop.”  
  
“He was a fireman, right?” Shiro asked carefully, knowing that the loss of his father was still painful to Keith._

_“Yeah. He was a real hero. Everyone told him not to run back into that building, but… you couldn’t tell him anything.”_

_“Sounds like someone I know.” Shiro was rewarded with a sad smile. Suddenly, the monitor at his wrist beeped, and he turned away to inject himself._

_“What are those?” Shiro should have known that Keith’s sharp eyes wouldn’t have missed anything._

_“Oh, these are just some electrostimulators to keep my muscles loose,” Shiro replied._

_“What’s wrong with your muscles?”_

_“Nothing. It’s just what happens when you get to be an old-timer.” Shiro hopped back onto is hoverbike. “Come on. We should get back to the base. I need to tell Y/N that you’re too chicken to do a jump-dive off the edge of a cliff. She’ll be thrilled to bits that she can do something that you can’t.”_

_“Don’t you dare!” Keith was mortified. He chased after Shiro, the older man’s laughter ringing in his ears._

**************************************

_“No. Absolutely not.” Admiral Sanda’s voice was firm._

_“Why not?” Commander Holt asked, his tone puzzled. “He’s cleared all his physicals.”_

_“I don’t care what the doctor says. This man is sick, and he shouldn’t be sent on another mission, especially one as far away as Kerberos. I have to report this to Flight Command.”_

_“Shiro is the best pilot in the Garrison, by far,” Commander Holt was adamant. “He’s saved my bacon in deep space more times than I can count. If he doesn’t go on this mission, neither do I.”_

_Keith frowned as he stood outside the Admiral’s office. What was going on?_

**************************************

_Shiro wiped his brow, and looked up as he heard footsteps approaching the hangar._

_“When were you gonna tell me?” Keith’s tone was accusing._

_Shiro smiled. “Oh, hey Keith.”_

_Keith turned as he heard footsteps running towards them, and frowned when he saw you approaching at a sprint. No matter where he went, for some reason you never seemed to be far behind, even if you had no possible reason to be anywhere near him._

_Before you’d even skidded to a stop, you cried out, “Shiro, what is going on? Adam just told me that the two of you broke up but he won’t say why.”_

_“So what is it? Are you sick or something?” Keith asked, pretending that you hadn’t spoken._

_Shiro feigned ignorance. “I’m not sure I follow…”_

_Keith trembled with barely suppressed rage. “I was outside your office. I overheard you and Commander Holt talking with Admiral Sanda. Tell me the truth. Tell me what’s wrong. I’m not a little kid, I can handle it!”_

_“Shiro, what’s wrong? It has to be something pretty serious if the Admiral doesn’t think you should go to Kerberos,” you said at the same time. You stared at your friend with worry on your face._

_Shiro debated how much to tell both of you, before sighing in resignation. “I… have a disease. And it’s getting worse. I’ll only be able to maintain my peak condition for a couple more years, then after that…”_

_“Oh, Shiro,” you whispered, your eyes filling with tears as you realised what he was saying. Keith looked more upset than you’d ever seen him._

_Shiro turned away. “The Garrison doesn’t want me up there. Neither does Adam.”_   
  
_“So what are you gonna do?” Keith wanted to know._

_“I’m going on the mission.”_

**************************************

**_Present day…_ **

Allura looked sadly at Shiro. “I’m afraid the clone body is rejecting Shiro’s consciousness.”

Keith looked at her, his face stricken. “There must be some way you can help!”

“There’s nothing I can do,” the princess whispered.

Keith’s eyes filled with tears. In frustration, he banged his fists against the glass of the healing pod. “Shiro, please… _Fight._ You can’t do this to me again.”

You wrapped your arms around Keith, your own despair at Shiro’s condition pushed aside as you tried to help your life-bonded partner deal with his anguish.

It seemed that Keith’s pleas were the push that Shiro needed. His vitals grew stronger. The healing pod opened up, and Shiro coughed.

“Shiro!” you and Keith cried together. Both of you hovered protectively over the former Black Paladin.

Slowly, Shiro opened his eyes. His voice was a whisper. “Keith. Y/N. I was dreaming… you saved me. You both saved me.”

“We saved each other,” Keith said, hugging his mentor tightly. You turned it into a group hug, the three of you gaining strength from each other, as Allura and Krolia looked on with smiles on their faces.

The other Paladins arrived just as Keith was helping Shiro to sit up. They ran over to him, happy to see him awake.

“Shiro’s looking better!” Lance exclaimed with a grin. “All right!”

“Where were you guys?” you asked. “We couldn’t get a hold of you.”

“Well, we were shrunk by a magic skunk, but we ended up using that sparkly dust that makes electricity bigger or whatever, and used it to unshrink ourselves,” Lance explained, ignoring the amused looks you exchanged with Keith and Shiro at his garbled explanation. “So, ready to charge up the Lions?”

Shiro huffed out a laugh. “It’s good to be back.”


	2. Go On A Road Trip, They Said

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On the way back to Earth, the team stop at a base which belongs to the Blade of Marmora, only to find it’s been abandoned. But before you can investigate, you come under attack. 
> 
> Just another day at the office, really.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter based on Series 7, Episode 2 “The Road Home”

Pidge walked despondently to where the rest of you stood. Shiro looked at her. “Were you able to contact Earth?”

“No luck,” she shook her head as she sat down beside him. “The low power levels are probably affecting our broadcast distance. I’ll keep trying as we head for Earth.”

Lance’s expression turned wistful. “I can’t believe we’re finally going home.”  
  
Hunk grinned. “I’m gonna hug my parents and never let go.”

“I can’t wait to see how Dad integrated Altean and Earth technologies together.” Pidge squeaked with excitement. “I bet he came up with something amazing! And my mom…”

Her face turned comically horrified. “… is gonna be _so mad_ at me for running away. I hope I’m not grounded…”

You said nothing, not really looking forward to a reunion with your parents. You had never been particularly close to either of them. You rebelled against their constant need to control every aspect of your life, and they couldn’t understand your intense desire for independence. And while you were looking forward to renewing your friendship with James Griffin, you were most definitely _not_ looking forward to explaining to him that your heart now belonged to the one person everyone at the Garrison had been convinced you hated more than anyone in the universe.

Keith squeezed your hand in sympathy before turning to Coran. “How long do you think it will take us to get home?”

Coran paused from counting on his fingers. “I was just calculating that now. Without the luxury of a wormhole, and with diminished power cores, let me see…”

More finger counting. “… carry the one… Ah! It’s going to take us approximately one hundred and fifty thousand Earth years.”

All of you stared at him, certain that he had miscalculated somewhere. Your voice was pitched higher than usual. “A hundred and fifty thousand _years?”_

“Coran, I think your finger counting is a little off,” Pidge suggested diplomatically. “It’s going to be one point five years.”

The team sagged with relief.

Coran frowned, then smiled. “Oh, right! I didn’t carry the three.”

“It’s going to be a very long and difficult voyage,” Allura said seriously. “But it’s our only chance to replace the Castle of Lions.”

“There were times when I thought I’d never see Earth again,” Shiro said softly. “To be able to go back…

“Well, what are we waiting for, guys? Let’s hit the space road!” Lance yelled enthusiastically.

Your laughter at your friend’s outburst was tempered as Krolia spoke. “I suppose we need to figure out who’s flying with who.”

“And what about the animals?” Coran suggested, looking at Kaltenecker the cow, who had been part of the family since the trip to the space mall.

“What about them?” Pidge asked.

“Well, the wolf can’t go with Kaltenecker; wolves eat cows. And the cow can’t be in the same area as the mice, because aren’t cows afraid of mice?”

“No, elephants are afraid of mice,” Lance said. Coran and Allura seemed perplexed when Lance described elephants to them, with Allura muttering about the strangeness of Earth and its creatures.

Keith frowned. “The wolf is riding with Y/N and me. But that means Hunk will have to take the cow.”

“Me with the cow? Not a good idea,” Hunk disagreed.

“Hunk’s right. Keith, you’re keeping the cow,” Lance said decisively. “Someone else is gonna have to take the wolf.”

He looked at Pidge, who held up her hands in protest. “Not me. I am allergic.”

“I’ll take the mice,” Allura decided.

“How come _you_ get the smallest passengers?” you asked in an aggrieved tone of voice. Allura poked her tongue out at you.

“I say we go old school, draw straws,” suggested Hunk.

Allura’s shoulders slumped. “But I’m terrible at drawing!”

“She really is,” Coran agreed pleasantly.

Lance spoke up again. “Guys, you’re all overthinking this. I know exactly where everyone should go.”

**************************************

It probably wasn’t the best decision to let Lance determine which passengers went where.

Hunk was more than happy to share the Yellow Lion with the space mice, but Allura seemed less pleased to be transporting the space-wolf. “The wolf looks restless. How did I get stuck with him again?”

Keith was squashed into the Black Lion’s cockpit with Krolia, Shiro and Coran in tow. “I’d gladly trade you the wolf for…”

“I have a question,” interjected Coran. “Why did we let Lance decide everything?”

“Stop whining!” Lance yelled. He was more than happy with his passengers. “Y/N, Romelle and I are going to Earth. Who’s coming with us?”

The Lions took off from the planet that had been your refuge for the past few days, all of you eager to return home.

Coran was keen to try some Earth road trip games, which made Keith grind his teeth in aggravation.

Lance began to regret his decision to transport Romelle when she started randomly pressing buttons, chattering excitedly the entire time. You tried to smother your laughter as he yelled at Romelle to stop touching everything because the Red Lion was “a dangerous war machine.”

“But what if something happens to you? What if you have to go to the bathroom and you break your leg, and then we’re attacked, and then I have to save the day?” Romelle asked.

You didn’t even bother to contain your laughter at her outburst. Lance gave you a look of absolute betrayal, which just made you laugh even harder.

Allura was growing even more fed up with the wolf. She contacted Keith, her temper severely frayed. “Keith, your wolf is tearing up the cargo hold!”

“Because he’s lonely,” Keith told her. “Just let him in the cockpit.”

“I will absolutely _not_ let that beast in the cockpit!” Allura argued.

Hunk kept sending everyone pictures of himself with the space mice, which just irritated you all even more. He was the only one who seemed happy with the way Lance had arranged things.

“Guys, I think I did a bad job choosing the passengers,” Lance finally admitted, pushed to breaking point as Romelle started making things beep alarmingly in the Red Lion.

As Allura and Keith began arguing over why the wolf – who was now drooling – should be allowed in the cockpit, you finally snapped. “All right, that’s it! We’re switching passengers!”

Lance and Allura quickly agreed. Hunk raised a concern. “Why haven’t we heard from Pidge?”

“Yeah? Wait, who’s in her Lion again?” Lance asked.

“I don’t know, you’re the one that came up with this grouping!” you reminded him irritably.

“Well, she must have… no, they’re with Keith,” Hunk muttered. “And the wolf is with Allura, and I have the mice…”

Allura gasped. “Is she all alone?”

It took a while, but the rest of you finally ensured that Pidge was no longer enjoying her solitary flight. You, however, were much happier being back with Keith.

“Oh, come _on,_ guys! This is so not fair!” the Green Paladin wailed as she was squished into her cockpit between Romelle, Coran, the wolf and the mice.

She quietly plotted all of your deaths as she tried to stop Coran and Romelle from arguing over her video game controller.

**************************************

“This is the Krynine system,” Krolia advised as the Black Lion’s scanners brought up a nearby planet. “There’s a Blade of Marmora rally point located on a moon here. We should check in with them and get an update on their operations.”

Keith nodded at his mother. “Team, we’re gonna make a quick stop. Everyone follow me.”

The Lions flew toward the Blade’s base. Krolia opened up a hailing channel. “Hailing Xylox Station. Please respond.” When there was no answer, she tried again. “Repeat, Xylox Station, please respond.”

The Lions landed at the base, Krolia having no success in contacting the Blade operatives located there. Exiting the Lions, the Paladins made their way to the massive metal doors leading to the base’s control room. Allura used her strength to pry the doors open, and Krolia led the team inside.

The base was a wreck of twisted metal. Keith looked around with dismay. “It doesn’t look like anyone’s been here for years.”

Pidge tried the control panel. “The system won’t boot. It looks like the backup power has been out for a while.”

“If the Blade of Marmora abandoned this place, that means something really bad must have happened,” Hunk said in a sombre tone.

“That’s impossible,” Krolia declared. “This base was still fully operational during my last check-in with the Blades.”

A sudden crash sent debris tumbling from the roof of the building. Rocks fell about, scattering everyone with dust.

“Enemy ship incoming!” Coran’s voice came through the comms.

“Everyone, back to the Lions!” ordered Keith, and you all obeyed without hesitation.

You boarded the Lions and took off from the base just as a fleet of Galra fighters appeared.

“It looks like a small fleet. Mostly Galra fighters,” you observed.

“That’s good, we should be able to take them out pretty easily,” replied Lance.

“Yeah, but remember, we’re not flying at full power,” Pidge said.

Keith grunted. “Pidge is right. Everyone stay sharp!”

The Lions flew through the asteroid belt surrounding the moon, dodging the fire from the Galra fighters as they pursued the team.

“Keep an eye out. Where there’s fighters, there’s usually a cruiser nearby,” Lance reminded everyone.

“Some of these ships look like they belong to Lotor’s fleet,” Romelle noticed, having been teleported into the Blue Lion by the space wolf.

Allura gave a start of surprise at the Altean girl beside her in Blue’s cockpit. The last Allura had seen of her, Romelle had been deposited in the Green Lion. “How did you get in here?”

Keith groaned as he tried to steer Black through the maze of laser fire. “We need to get out of here!”

Two Sincline ships caught the Yellow Lion in grappling hooks and commenced to pull it behind them, back towards the waiting Galra cruiser. “Guys, they’ve got me! I can’t move!”

“Hang on, Hunk!” Keith told the Yellow Paladin. “I’m gonna get you out of there.”

He pushed the thrusters to full speed, and summoned the Black Lion’s jaw blade. He flew between the Yellow Lion and the Sincline ships, slicing the grappling lines with the blade and freeing Hunk.

“We’re getting our quiznaks handed to us!” Lance swore. “We need to do something. We need to form Voltron!”

“Okay,” agreed Keith. “Everyone in formation.”

The Lions flew in formation as directed, but nothing happened. When it became apparent that nothing was working, Keith called on everyone to abort, which they did.

“What the heck just happened?” demanded Lance.

You answered, “I’m guessing the Lions didn’t have enough power to form Voltron.”

“So now what?” Hunk queried.

Keith ground his teeth in frustration. “We run!”

As you attempted to flee, the Green Lion was hit by something, and a loud explosion knocked it out of its flight path and sent it hurtling through space. Several other explosions hit the other Lions as well, sending them tumbling through the asteroid belt.

“Is everyone okay?” called Lance.

“I’m okay,” Pidge confirmed.

Hunk and Allura also assured you they were unharmed.

“What did we hit?” you asked.

Coran observed the scanners. “Xanthorium crystals! They’ve been cloaked.”

You stared at the Altean advisor standing beside you. You could have sworn you’d left him with Pidge. How the quiznak did he get back in the Black Lion?

Before you could ask him, the Black Lion hit a particularly large crystal, sending Coran tumbling towards the back of the cockpit where Shiro and Krolia stood.

Three Sincline ships joined their laser fire together to form one enormous blast, which Pidge narrowly avoided. It seemed no matter where you went or what you did, the Galra had weapons to attack you with that they had never used before.

Hunk also seemed to have noticed the new weaponry. “I’ve never seen the Galra use weapons like these before.”

“And they’re not using standard Galra battle formations,” Allura added, her knowledge of the Galra’s fighting techniques far superior to that of the rest of you, except Krolia.

“How are we going to get away?” Hunk wanted to know.

“They’re trying to trap us by chasing us through this tunnel of crystals,” Keith surmised.

Pidge scanned her sensors. “He’s right. Look! There are more crystals up ahead.”

“They’re corralling us like we’re space cattle!” cried Hunk as the Galra fleet closed in on you once more.

Lance huffed. “They backed us into a corner! We’ve got xanthorium crystals all around us, pirates behind us, and a cyclone blocking our exit!”

“Keith, the cyclone is our only option. We have to try to shake them off in there,” you told your team leader.

He nodded, then gave the order to the others. “We have no choice. Everyone, into the cyclone! Hunk, that means you and I are gonna have to punch a hole through the storm and create a path for the team. You ready?”

Hunk’s voice was steady. “As I’ll ever be.”

The Black and Yellow Lions led the way through the centre of the space cyclone, as the other Lions tried to keep up.

Lance felt as if his teeth were going to be shaken out of his head. “Guys, we can’t take much more of this!”  
  
“Everyone scan the area for anything we can use for cover,” Keith instructed. “We need to go somewhere where we have the advantage.”

“There’s a volcanic ice planet nearby,” Pidge said as she scanned the radar. “It has geysers, steam vents, ice tunnels, extreme changes in temperature and an unstable core. It’s super dangerous. It’s perfect!”

You could hear the grin in the tiny Paladin’s voice.

“Okay, team. Let’s do this.” Keith led the way, and the other Lions followed close behind.

It wasn’t long until the Galra fighters were once again in pursuit, firing at the Lions as they approached the ice planet’s surface.

“All right, everybody. Stay in formation and follow me,” Keith instructed as he flew through one of the ice canyons Pidge had located. Geysers shot out from the sides of the canyon, and the Lions deftly flew over and under them, avoiding the powerful sprays of water. Some of the Galra fleet were not so lucky.

The Galra jets fired upon an ice bridge just as the Black Lion was about to fly beneath it.

“Watch out for the falling ice!” warned Shiro.

“It gives me an idea,” Keith said. “Lance, bring up the rear. When everyone’s through the tunnel, fire above the cave opening. Red should be fast enough to get in before the avalanche completely blocks the way.”

“Roger that, team leader!” The Blue Paladin dropped to the back of the pack, ready to fire upon the ice cave as directed.

“We’ll see each other on the other side,” Keith told him confidently.

“Here goes nothing,” Lance whispered, firing upon the top of the cave as the other Lions went through it. He flew Red through just as the roof of the cave collapsed. Several Galra fighters also made it through, but the majority were either crushed by the falling ice or blocked from entering the tunnel by the ensuing avalanche.

“Some of them made it through!” Lance called out.

“Split up!” Keith ordered. “We need to thin our attackers.”

The Lions flew in different directions, each going down a separate ice tunnel. One of the Sincline ships followed Black, and its pilot attached a grappling hook to the Lion, using it to pull themselves onto the outside of the Lion.

Black’s sensors picked up the intruder. “He’s trying to break in!” you said, panic in your voice.

“I’ll take care of it,” Shiro said, preparing to face the intruder.

“No,” Krolia stopped him. “You’re still recovering. I’ll do it.”  
  
“All right,” Shiro agreed, and Krolia left to deal with the enemy. Keith called her back, handing her the Marmora blade he had inherited from her, which she took with a soft smile.

Keith flew wildly through the ice tunnels, ducking and weaving around the ice stalactites as he attempted to evade the other fighters which were still following. Several explosions sounded as the other Lions also tried to shake off their attackers.

“Is everyone okay?” you called.

“I’m okay,” Hunk told you. Allura also advised that she was safe.

Pidge and Lance, however, required help as the tunnel they had entered did not allow them enough room to manouver. Keith flicked his eyes to the scanner. “I see your location. We’re headed your way.”

Before you could reach them, however, the space-wolf decided to take matters into its own paws. It teleported itself into one of the Galra jets, frightening the pilot to such an extent that they crashed into the other fighters nearby, causing all of them to crash and explode.

The wolf teleported back to the Green Lion, whining pitifully as it lay injured. Pidge tried to soothe it, patting its fur and whispering consolingly to it as she told you that the wolf had saved them.

Eventually, the Lions made it out of the ice tunnels, and none of the fighter jets were in pursuit. Before you could celebrate the fact that you had outrun them, however, a powerful beam hit all of the Lions, causing them to crash to the ground.

You were trapped.


	3. This Is Not How We Usually Play Dungeons and Dragons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stuck in a perilous situation far from home and needing help to get free, the Paladins receive assistance from a couple of unexpected sources.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter aligns with Series 7 Episode 3: “The Way Forward”

The team, together with Romelle and Krolia, found themselves handcuffed in the brig of the Galra pirate ship that had captured all of you. The only one missing was Coran. Somehow, he had managed to evade your captors.

Lance kept flitting from wall to wall, unable to sit still. Hunk gave an exasperated sigh as Lance pressed his ear to the wall yet again. “What are you doing?”

“I’m feeling for a secret passage,” the Blue Paladin replied, as if the answer should have been obvious.

Keith rolled his eyes. “You’ve watched too many movies, Lance. There’s no secret passage.”

“Oh, really? Then how do you explain _this?”_ Lance kicked the wall and immediately regretted it, howling in pain as he failed to reveal anything hidden behind the walls of your cell.

Krolia seemed unimpressed. “Will someone shut him up?”

She continued to look through the miniscule slot in the doorway. “There’s only one guard patrolling out there. If we can get this door open, we can overpower him.”

“What happened to Coran?” you wondered.

“He must have managed to hide when we were captured,” Krolia mused.

Allura brightened. “At least we have one ally out there still able to fight for us.”

“Are you saying our fate rests in Coran’s hands?” Pidge did not seem comforted by that thought. She turned to Lance. “I will help you look for that passage.”

**************************************

Everyone looked up warily when the door to your prison opened, and two Galra entered. They stood to either side of the cell, and two more Galra wandered in.

Zethrid and Ezor.

Keith instinctively stepped in front of you, even as you tried not to feel intimidated by either of Lotor’s former generals. Of the two, Zethrid was the more powerful, but Ezor was the one you truly feared. She had a sadistic streak a mile wide hidden behind a cheeky grin and disarmingly friendly demeanour.

“Look who’s here,” Ezor purred. “It’s Voltron.”

Zethrid smacked her fist into her other palm. “We’re going to have a little talk.”

“Hey, you’re the guys that Lotor shot into space,” Lance said conversationally, only just seeming to recognise the two.

“And the ones that were trying to kill us,” Pidge added in a hostile tone.

“Yeah, sure, but we’re all friends now, right?” Hunk said hopefully. “I, for one, am glad you survived.”

“I’m glad you survived, too,” Ezor said sweetly. “It’s no fun torturing a dead person.”

“Where have you been all this time, and what happened to Lotor?” Zethrid demanded.

Shiro looked as bewildered as the rest of you felt. “What are you talking about?”

Ezor stood with her hands on her hips. “We’re talking about your little disappearing act.”

“Answer the question!” snapped Zethrid. “How did you survive that explosion?”

Hunk shrugged. “Don’t you know? You were there.”

Ezor narrowed her eyes. “I think there’s a little confusion about how the ‘We ask questions, you give us answers’ scenario works.”

“Enough of your games. Where is Lotor?” Zethrid asked again.

Keith scowled at her. “Lotor’s dead. We left him in the Quintessence field.”

“Yeah, that doesn’t really add up,” Ezor scoffed. “Why aren’t _you_ dead?”

“Because… of the power of teamwork?” Hunk suggested.

Zethrid’s patience snapped. “I’m going to ask you one more time, and then we’re going to have to take a more extreme approach.”

Ezor’s smile widened. “The fun part.”

“What happened to Lotor, and where have you been all this time?” yelled Zethrid.

“We don’t know what you’re talking about,” you repeated.

Zethrid’s scowl deepened. “If you insist on maintaining the charade of ignorance, you leave us no choice but to apply pressure.”

“Finally!” Ezor said with apparent relief. “Who’s our first victim?”

Zethrid’s gaze wandered over all of you before resting on Pidge, who was glaring back at them mutinously. Her eyes glinted with malice. “You. I’d bet half my fleet that this group of heroes has a soft spot for the small one.”

“Leave her alone!” you yelled, stepping out from behind Keith.

Ezor stepped forward, her smile sickly sweet. “Oh no, Zethrid. Let’s take the pretty one. I think the one with the flippity hair is sweet on her. She’ll be so much more fun to break.”

Lance snarled, “Don’t you touch her!”

He ran towards Ezor in a rage, but she casually kicked him into the wall and continued toward you as if he hadn’t interrupted her.

Zethrid grinned at him. “Your defiance is adorable. And so very misguided.”

“Leave us alone!” you cried.

Ezor whipped her hair-attachment in your direction, pulling you towards her and then grabbing you by the throat and holding you up as if you weighed nothing.

“Y/N!” Hunk gasped.

“Let her go!” Keith snapped, his rage ignited as he felt your fear through the life-bond. He moved towards you but was stopped by one of the Galra sentries, who pointed the blaster in his face.

Ezor held you against the wall, ignoring your kicks as you made a feeble attempt to escape. “Answers!”

“We told you! He’s…” Keith was interrupted by an alarm suddenly blaring.

**[Hull breach in Hangar One. Lock-down sequence initiated.]**

Zethrid and the two Galra sentries immediately left the prison cell to find out the cause of the disturbance. Ezor stared after then, then glanced back at you, before reluctantly dropping you and hastening after them.

The door closed behind them.

Keith immediately ran to your side and helped you to your feet. “Are you okay, sweetheart?”  
  
You nodded. “I’ll be better when we find a way out of here.”

Krolia looked out the peephole to once again see a lone sentry. “This is it. The next time this door opens, overwhelm the guard.”

Everyone crowded around the door, eager to escape.

You heard banging and a loud cry, and then a crash. The door to your cell opened, and everyone looked out, surprised to find no guard standing there. Looking down, you found that the guard had somehow been taken down by the space mice. Platt, the fat one, seemed particularly proud. Allura thanked her little rodent friends, and then gasped as they ‘spoke’ to her.

“Coran’s trying to rescue us. And he’s got help.” She looked back at Keith. “Acxa.”

“What?” Keith was stunned.

_“Acxa?”_ you shrieked. “That Galra woman that used to fight for Lotor?”

The beautiful one that used to fight for Lotor, and who had made absolutely no secret of the fact that she had found Keith _extremely_ attractive. Acxa. Ugh. Even her name was beautiful. Why couldn’t she have been named something terrible, like Hepzebah or Millicent or Ermintrude?

This day just got better and better.

**************************************

Running down several corridors, you eventually stumbled upon Coran, who was being beaten up by a rather large Galra. Allura punched the Galra from behind, knocking him out, much to Coran’s relief. Lance and Keith helped Coran to his feet.

“Coran, where’s Acxa?” Keith asked, ignoring your scowl at the mention of her name.

“I don’t know. Where am I?” Coran replied somewhat woosily.

“Are you okay?” Shiro asked, one eyebrow quirked.

“Never better,” Coran assured him unconvincingly. “Now let’s get our belmards and hayets.”

You were fairly certain that he meant Bayards and helmets.

“Don’t worry, we got you,” Lance grinned at the Altean.

“Aw. Thank you, Princess Allura,” Coran slurred. Lance tried not to laugh.

**************************************

The team rounded the corner and found a pair of the Galra pirates laughing over your helmets and Bayards. They were trying on the helmets, and one of them asked if there was a switch to turn on the Bayards.

The other laughed. “I cannot wait until that thing turns on and cuts your head off.”

“Our Bayards,” Keith whispered.

Lance looked offended. “They have weapons and we don’t. Any suggestions?”

“Unhand those Bayards, you scallywags!” yelled Coran, who still had not regained his senses properly. Lance and Pidge pulled him away, with Lance clamping a hand over his mouth to try and keep him quiet.

The pirates turned and started walking towards the door, trying to determine the source of the noise.

“So much for the element of surprise,” you muttered irritably.

Keith closed his eyes and concentrated. To everyone’s amazement, he summoned the Black Bayard from inside the room, and it appeared in his hand. Instantly transforming it into its sword form, he ran into the room, attacking the pirates before the rest of the team could fully comprehend what had just happened.

The rest of you entered the room just as Keith put on his helmet. “Lance, lead the way. Keep the team together.”

“Wait, where are you going?” Lance asked.

“Acxa saved our skins. I’m not gonna leave her behind. I’ll meet up with you guys soon.” Keith left before anyone could object.

He shouldn’t have been surprised that you followed him.

**************************************

“What _is_ it with you and collecting gorgeous but deadly intergalactic women?” you hissed at Keith as the two of you ran down the hallway. First he comes back from the Quantum Abyss with a Galra woman who turned out to be his mother, as well as a long-lost Altean girl, and now Acxa. It was as if he was a magnet for deadly wayward waifs.

He had the cheek to grin at you. “Just lucky, I guess.”

You seethed. That did it. Next time he slept, you were going to shave off his mullet.

“Babe, you know you have nothing to worry about, right?” Keith said. “I’m life-bonded to _you_. You are the only one that I want.”

A wave of love and reassurance washed through the bond as Keith held your hand in his. He rubbed his thumb over the back of your hand, soothing your frayed temper with the gentleness of his touch. For a man that continued to be awkward whenever he was shown any sort of affection from the rest of the team, he had absolutely no difficulty with being all touchy-feely with you.

“I love you, Y/N. To the moon and back, remember?”

“To the moon and back.” With a resigned sigh, you said, “Fine. Let’s go and save Acxa. But if she tries anything tricky, I’m kicking her out of the airlock.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less,” Keith grinned, giving you a quick kiss before the two of you headed down the corridor to find Acxa.

**************************************

Ezor aimed a kick at Acxa’s face, but was blocked by Keith’s shield, which had seemingly materialised from nowhere.

“Oh, look Acxa,” sneered Ezor. “It’s your favourite Paladin.”

“Correction, Rainbow Brite,” you contradicted angrily, swinging your staff at her. “He’s _my_ favourite Paladin!”

“So, do you guys actually know each other?” Zethrid seemed confused.

“Yeah. Don’t you remember how Acxa never wanted to kill him?” Ezor explained.

“Aw. I guess it _is_ true love,” Zethrid mocked.

“Can’t we just fight?” snarled Keith, not wanting to get into an argument with anybody else in regard to Acxa’s feelings towards him. He really didn’t need you to be even more irritated about the situation than you already were. He ran towards Ezor, who kicked him backward into you.

Zethrid had Acxa pinned up against the wall. Remembering how unpleasant it had felt when Ezor did the same to you earlier, you whacked the large Galra with your staff. It distracted her attention long enough for Acxa to wriggle out of her grasp and kick her in the face.

The two of you reached an unspoken agreement, attacking Zethrid together. You rained blow after blow with your staff, while Acxa lashed out with hands and feet. Acxa was sent backwards by a heavy blow, and hit the wall near Keith.

He flung himself at Ezor, smashing her into another wall. From the corner of his eye, he saw Zethrid hurl you at Acxa, knocking her back down, and his temper flared. He swung at Ezor again, only to be flung backwards by her hair-attachment. He crashed into both you and Acxa, and the three of you skidded backwards, knocking over several canisters as you did so.

Keith stared at one of the canisters. “Is that what I think it is?”

Acxa nodded. “Zentium nitrate.”

Keith contacted the other Paladins. “Guys! Zero in on our location and fire on the ship!”

“Are you sure?” Allura’s voice was concerned.

“Just do it!” Keith grabbed both you and Acxa and flew towards the hole in the hull just as the other Lions fired upon the ship from the other side. As you exited, the ship exploded.

As the three of you floated in space, the Black Lion flew to your rescue, scooping you up in its mouth. You rejoined the others, and the Lions headed back on their journey towards Earth.

**************************************

You landed on a remote planet, far from the ship you had escaped from. Acxa led the team to a large cave in which to shelter in for the night.

Hunk came in from collecting firewood. “Uh, I just looked at the Lions and they’re in worse shape than ever.”

“We should probably give them some time to recharge before we head back on our way,” Shiro suggested.

“Wow. A lot of things have really changed over the past few weeks,” Lance muttered.

Acxa furrowed her brow, puzzled. “Weeks? What are you talking about?”

“The last time we saw you,” Allura reminded her. “You were fighting us alongside Lotor.”

“That was three deca-phoebs ago. No one has seen you since your fight with Lotor.”

Your stomach dropped. Three years? Voltron had been in the Quintessence field for _three years?_

Keith seemed to share your disbelief. “That’s impossible.”

Acxa turned to look at him. “It’s true. After Lotor jettisoned us, we managed to make it to cover on a meteoroid. There we saw both Voltron and Lotor disappear. Eventually, Voltron re-emerged. Alone. But then, there was an explosion and after that… nothing. That was three deca-phoebs ago.”

Lance’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. “Woah.”

“So, as far as everyone else in the universe is concerned, Voltron has been gone for three deca-phoebs?” Allura ventured.

Pidge frowned. “That explains the discrepancies in the star-charts in our Lions. I thought they were off because of our inter-dimensional jumping, which I guess they were in a way. Because when you think about it, that must have been the cause of the time-slippage between our experience and that of the rest of the universe.”

You returned Acxa’s gaze. “So how did you end up here? Helping us?”

“Zethrid, Ezor and I were marooned on the meteor for days,” she replied quietly. “Finally, a Galra ship came to investigate Lotor’s last known whereabouts. We took it over. With Lotor gone, it was clear there was a power vacuum in the Galra Empire. Zethrid and Ezor wanted to exploit that for their own gain. But I knew I had to find my own path. And it led me to you.”

She looked once again at Keith, her gaze wistful as she noted your hand in his.

“Thank you,” he said simply. “For saving us.”

“I hope this makes up in some way for the wrong I’ve done. I realise now that Lotor wasn’t the man I thought he was. He preached unity, but in the end he sought only power.” Acxa’s expression saddened, and you found yourself feeling a sudden pang of sympathy for her. She was as much a victim of Lotor’s manipulation as any of you.

Surprising yourself as much as the Galra woman, you reached out and clasped her hand in yours, giving her a slight squeeze. She returned your smile with a tentative one of her own.  
  
Allura nodded. “I understand how you feel. I fell for Lotor’s lies as well.”  
  
Acxa’s voice was full of steel. “I’ll do everything I can out here to help the Voltron Coalition.”  
  
“Wow. So everyone that was helping us thinks we’re dead,” Hunk said.

“Wait!” Pidge cried. “I haven’t been able to get a hold of my Dad on Earth, or Matt and the rebels. What’s happened to them in the last three years?”

“And if Ezor and Zethrid became warlords in that time, what else has changed?” you asked, not really looking forward to finding out the answer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve decided to skip S7 E4 “The Feud”, which is the Game Show episode, as it’s probably the weakest episode in the entire series and it doesn’t really add anything to this narrative. So we’re skipping straight to the Voltron we know and love, which is fighting their way out of trouble.


	4. War. What Is It Good For? Absolutely Nothing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Pidge intercepts a distress signal that Krolia recognises, the team find themselves on a ruined planet that was ravaged by war.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter is based on Series 7, Episode 5: “The Ruins”

You were snuggled under the blankets, hugging the pillow on which Keith normally slept. It smelled like him, all mint and thunderstorms and space-caf, and you murmured with sleepy contentment, dreaming that you were cuddled up close to your life-bonded love.

Your dreams were rudely interrupted, however, by a harsh command.

“Everybody up!”

You muttered something unintelligible and stuck your head under the pillow, hoping that whoever was trying to ruin your sleep would get the hint and leave you alone. It sounded distinctly like Keith, but he wouldn’t be stupid enough to wake you up this early. Not if he wanted to continue breathing, at any rate.

“Come on, it’s time to wake up.”

Okay, that was definitely Keith.

“What’s the point?” Lance’s sleepy voice sounded through the comms. “We’re just floating through space. There’s no day or night here.”

“I have to agree with Lance,” murmured Allura, who was only half-awake. “We should sleep for fifteen more doboshes.”

“Guys, we can’t let this long journey make us soft or dull our skills,” Keith said sternly. “Routine will keep us sharp.”

_‘I’ve got something sharp right here, Flyboy, and I’ll stab you with it if you suggest I get out of bed before I’m good and ready,’_ you mentally threatened, feeling the hilt of Keith’s Marmora blade under the pillow.

_‘Babe, stop being so lazy. You should have gone to sleep earlier.’_

_‘Well, I would have if somebody hadn’t kept me awake!’_

You could feel Keith’s laughter. _‘You weren’t complaining last night.’_

_‘Keith, I love you, but if you make me get out of bed I’m going to punch you in the face.’_

_‘I love you too, Y/N, but up. Now. Before I send Krolia back there to drag you out.’_

_‘All right, I’m up! I’m up!’_

You adored Keith’s mother, but you really did not want her to see you in your current state of undress. Your face burned at the thought of the Galra woman discovering exactly what you and her son had got up to the night before. You knew that she would at least have a suspicion – there was only so much room in the Black Lion, after all – but still, you didn’t need to provide her with any actual evidence of your nocturnal activities.

“Keith’s right,” you heard Shiro say. “Routine is what got me through being Zarkon’s prisoner, and being in the infinite void of the Black Lion.”

You sensed Lance’s eye roll from the Red Lion. “I guess that does make you an expert on killing time.”

“Okay, everyone, to your stations. Running battle simulations now.” Keith’s tone indicated that he wasn’t going to put up with any more excuses.

“Can we just have breakfast first?” Naturally, Hunk’s first thought was for his stomach.

**************************************

You shuffled sleepily into the cockpit of the Black Lion, rubbing your eyes. You flopped into the co-pilot’s seat, and Keith turned to look at you over his shoulder. “Morning, sleepyhead.”

“Morning, drill sergeant.” You yawned and stretched. “Hi, Krolia.”

Keith’s mother smiled at you, before turning back to the console. “I’ve programmed a new battle simulation. I think it’s going to be especially challenging.”

“Why do you sound happy about that?” moaned Hunk.

Lance’s sarcastic tone answered. “Like mother, like son.”

“Focus!” Keith barked.

The Black Lion’s screen showed a lava-filled planet, and you were suddenly very awake. Krolia’s simulations had a tendency to kill you all within seconds. The longest any of you had lasted was five minutes, and that was more through sheer luck rather than any particular skill on your part.

“Here’s the scenario,” Krolia stated. “You’re on a planet with double gravity, dense volcanic fog, and eight Blovar raptors are attacking. What do you do?”

“Turn around and find a planet which is infinitely more welcoming?” you suggested hopefully. Krolia’s lips twitched as she tried to suppress her grin.

Keith grinned at Krolia. “This is a good one.”

“Ugh. You are definitely your mother’s son,” you muttered, echoing Lance’s earlier statement.

“Do these raptors lay eggs?” Hunk queried. “I say we steal some and make a little breakfast.”

He fell out of his chair with a squawk as something large and ugly attached itself to his window.

Krolia’s voice was full of glee. “That Blovar raptor just melted your face off, Hunk! Now it’s eight on four.”

Allura and Lance ducked and weaved through the simulation, avoiding lava eruptions and laser-fire from the raptors.

“Everyone split up to thin their numbers,” Keith ordered. “If there was just some way to – WHAT?!”

His command was cut off by a cry of outrage as a raptor came up suddenly from the side, its blast hitting the Black Lion’s shield.

“Keith, you’re out.” Krolia’s face reflected her disappointment at her son’s failure, and you unsuccessfully attempted to smother the snort of laughter that escaped you. It was good for Keith to be reminded occasionally that he wasn’t infallible. He was only human, after all.

Well, half human, but still…

“Okay, I think I know what to do,” Pidge said. “This place has thick volcanic fog, right? That means the Blovars must use some sort of thermal vision to see us.”

Lance pondered for a second. “Maybe I can lure them away with my heat rays.”

He fired the Red Lion’s heat cannon, and the Blovar raptors turned away from the Lions as they pursued the heat blast. “It’s working!”

“Let’s get them while they’re distracted,” Allura told Lance and Pidge.

Suddenly, the Lions were hit with a volcanic eruption, and the simulation ended.

“Wait, what happened?” Pidge cried.

“You focussed too much on the raptors and forgot about the volcano,” Krolia told her.

You could hear Lance’s pout in his voice. “That fictional planet seems harsh.”

“I programmed the simulator to be unbeatable,” Krolia said smugly. “I wanted to see how long you’d survive.”

“Well, I hope you’re happy,” Lance muttered sarcastically.

**************************************

“Food incoming!” Hunk called happily.

The space-wolf teleported into the Black Lion, and you ruffled his fur affectionately as Krolia removed three food packets from the bag tied around its neck. They looked similar to breakfast burritos, and knowing Hunk, they were bound to be absolutely delicious. You started drooling even before you opened the package.

Hunk’s voice sounded again. “Oh, gosh, we really gotta come up with a name for this wolf.”

“Not gonna happen.” Keith’s voice was firm.

“Why not? Everyone else has a name, even the space mice and Kaltenecker. He deserves one too, don’t you, boy? Yes, you do,” you crooned, ruffling the wolf’s fur again. Krolia smiled at you indulgently while Keith rolled his eyes. The wolf licked your nose before he teleported to the Blue Lion.

“Come on, man! I vote Kosmo,” Hunk said.

“I like Kosmo,” Allura agreed. Lance added his vote for the name, as did Pidge.

“We’re not calling him Kosmo,” Keith growled.

Hunk was persistent. “Oh, come on, Keith. We gotta call him something!”

“I figure when he’s ready, he’ll tell me his name.”

“So… Kosmo. Got it,” Lance said, his mouth full of breakfast burrito.

"Looks like you're outvoted, oh glorious leader," you said sweetly. Keith glared at you, and you blinked at him innocently.

_‘Oh, please, as if you don’t call him your Fluffy-wuffy Wolfikins when you think I’m not listening,’_ you thought with a smirk.

_‘I called him that ONCE, and if you tell anyone about that, I will kick you out of the airlock,’_ Keith threatened.

_‘Besides, Kosmo approves of the name, and his opinion matters more than yours.’_ You smiled at him sweetly, and he gave in with a sigh of resignation.

Pidge gave a gasp as her console sprang to life. “A signal!”

“How did you get a signal?” Allura voiced the curiosity all of you felt.

“I’ve been running a passive scan so I wouldn’t give our location away, looking for any signs of communications, and I just picked up something,” Pidge explained, her voice full of excitement.

“Well, what is it?” Keith wanted to know.

“Patching it through now.” Pidge sent the communication to the rest of you so that you could hear it too.

You all stared in bewilderment at what appeared to be a space sitcom, starring a multitude of creatures like Bi Boh Bi, who had hosted the Voltron Show what felt like a lifetime ago. Coran rolled on the floor in fits of laughter, exclaiming that the Bi Boh Bi’s certainly knew their comedy.

Suddenly, Hunk shushed all of you. “What’s that noise?”

The rest of you listened attentively, at first hearing nothing but static. But eventually you realised that there was a weird buzzing noise in the background.

“It sounds like some kind of interference,” Pidge muttered. “I’ll try to tune it out.”

“No!” cried Krolia. She gave Keith a look neither of you could quite identify. “Wait. Pidge, can you amplify that signal?”

“On it.” The Green Paladin did as Krolia had requested, and you watched as the soundwaves lengthened and merged together. “Judging from the intermittent sound structure, it’s just deep space interference. Most likely a radiation pulse from a nearby star.”

Krolia’s eyes were closed in concentration. “No. That’s just what it’s supposed to sound like. Listen to the sounds in between the pulses. It’s a unique pattern.”

You listened to the intermittent beeping. “She’s right!”

“Before the Blades were unified, we would use this crude way of communicating with each other. Not many Blades know this code.” Krolia frowned. “It must be a senior member.”

“Kolivan?” Keith guessed.

“Possibly.”

Shiro’s voice sounded next. “What does it say?”

Krolia listened. “It’s a distress signal. Whoever is sending it is in trouble.”

Pidge triangulated the location of the signal, and highlighted the most likely area before sending it to the rest of you. “It looks like it’s coming from this sector.”

“Do we know anything about that section of space?” asked Shiro.

Coran studied the star-chart. “Not without the Castle of Lions’ research library core. We would be flying in blind.”

“We must go.” Krolia’s voice was insistent.

“It’s a pretty severe detour from Earth,” Hunk muttered.

“If Kolivan is there, then maybe there will be more Blades,” Keith said. “We need all the help we can get to reach Earth.”

Without further ado, the Lions headed towards the area where the distress signal was coming from, hoping to find answers as to who was sending the transmission.

**************************************

The Lions hovered over the surface of a planet. Pidge confirmed that the signal was emanating from the area. “I’m detecting remnants of a civilisation, but I don’t see any signs of life.”

“Is that a good or a bad sign?” Romelle asked.

“In all of my space experience, there have never been any good signs,” Hunk told her.

The Lions landed in the midst of a devastated set of ruins on the planet’s surface. Pidge scanned the area as the rest of you followed close behind. “I still can’t tell exactly where the signal originates. I’ll keep trying to triangulate its location.”

Krolia looked solemnly over the ruins. “The signs are all around us. There was a massacre here.”

Allura peered more closely at some of the marks on the ruined buildings. “Some of this damage looks like it’s from magic.”

“Everyone stay alert,” Shiro warned. You didn’t need to be told twice. The hairs on the back of your neck were standing up, and you had an ominous sense that something terrible was awaiting you.

Kosmo growled, and you and Keith turned in the direction he was facing. The team followed the wolf, down deserted alleyways, until Krolia stopped. She inspected slash marks on a crumbling wall with a frown. “These strike patterns look Marmoran.”

“Keep looking,” Keith said. “We need to find whatever Blade is broadcasting that signal.”

Kosmo growled again, more ominously this time.

“What is it?” you asked the wolf. He ran off, still growling, and without hesitation you followed where he led, as did the rest of the team. You caught up with him just as he leapt at a masked figure, paws on their chest, as he bared his fangs directly above their face. The team aimed their weapons at the stranger.

“Good job,” Keith praised Kosmo. “Who are you? Who’s broadcasting the signal?”

“It was me,” the figure said plaintively.

“Impossible,” Keith denied. “You’re no Blade of Marmora.”

“I will explain all, if you would put down your weapons,” pleaded the stranger.

Krolia flicked her eyes to her son. “Let’s see what he has to say.”

The stranger led everyone to a nearby cave, and he threw scrap pieces of timber onto a burning fire. The team stood awkwardly around the cave, waiting to see what the stranger had to say.

Romelle wrinkled her nose in distaste as she took in the leaking canisters and filthy surroundings. “This place is disgusting.”

The stranger turned to her. “I have called this place home for the last two deca-phoebs.”

“Oh!” Romelle seemed abashed. “Well, ‘disgusting’ is Altean for ‘lovely’. You don’t speak Altean, do you?”

Pidge studied her scans. “This is where the signal was coming from. Somewhere below us.”

“You are clever,” the stranger said. “But I wouldn’t expect less from the Paladins of Voltron.”

Lance quirked an eyebrow. “You recognised us?”

“Of course, of course. Though, I am surprised to see you. All were certain you perished.”

“Yeah, we just found that out. But we’re back,” Lance said.

“And I am so grateful that you are. It’s been so long since I’ve had… guests.”

You couldn’t say exactly why, but you had the feeling that the stranger had a different meaning for ‘guests’ than you did. You felt a shiver run down your spine. Something weird was going on.

“Thank you for your hospitality, but who are you?” Shiro asked. “What happened here?”

“Bloodshed happened here,” the stranger replied. “Death happened here.”

Krolia slipped away, drawn to something behind the curtain at the back of the cave.

“I am Macidus,” continued the stranger. “This is my home planet, and now, I am the only one left alive.”

Krolia’s gasp drew every eye to her as she raised her blaster at Macidus. She gestured to the wall behind her, adorned with a multitude of Marmora blades. “What are you doing with these?”

Keith’s eyes widened in horror, and the other Paladins gasped in surprise as well. You put your hand on your Bayard, ready to summon your staff at a moment’s notice.

Macidus gazed steadily at Krolia. “I hang them in honour of their sacrifice. They died trying to protect the universe.”

Krolia clearly didn’t believe him, keeping her blaster trained on him. “How did it happen?”

“This all started when Voltron disappeared. When _you_ disappeared.” Macidus droned in a monotone. “The power vacuum that ensued destabilised much of the universe. Galra turned on each other. Warlords and pirates became the rulers of the land.”

“What happened with Haggar? The witch?” Allura asked.

“No one knows. But her Druids continued her work, carrying out her final orders. They set out to destroy every Blade.”

Your voice betrayed your heartache. “After Lotor took over the throne, almost every Marmoran agent was exposed.”

“And that’s when the slaughter began,” Macidus said. “All Blades were called away from their assignments, and sent to this base. Kolivan knew they were being hunted and he wanted to make a stand against them. He believed it was their only means of survival.”  
  
Krolia lowered her blaster as Romelle murmured, “That must be why they abandoned that base we found.”

“Indeed,” agreed Macidus. “When they arrived here, my people helped them fortify their base. But the Druids found us sooner than we hoped. They arrived without warning. The Druids encircled the base and besieged it with magic. After a long battle of attrition, the base fell. Casualties on both sides were enormous. My people were the first to try to escape. They were slaughtered.”

Macidus paused briefly before continuing his tale. “I stayed behind with Kolivan. He led those of us that remained to battle the last of the Druids. But for each one we managed to take down, nearly a hundred Blades would fall.”

As the team listened, Macidus went on. “In the final battle, I was buried beneath a collapsed structure. When I regained consciousness, the fight was over, and I was the lone survivor. I’ve been sending the signal Kolivan gave me ever since in the hopes of finding any remaining Blades.”

“There are still a few of us alive,” admitted Keith.

“Good.”

Again you felt a chill when Macidus said that single word. The way he said it sounded ominous.

Krolia looked at the wall containing the hilts of the fallen Marmorans. “I recognise every one of these blades. I trained many of them myself.”

She pulled a blade from the wall, her eyes filled with tears. “If I had only been here… Kolivan…”

You and Keith walked up to her, placing a hand on either shoulder. Keith said, “Their service will not be forgotten.”

The blade in Krolia’s hands flashed briefly. “Kolivan? His blade… it’s flickering.”

“Flickering?” you repeated. “What does that mean?”

“A Marmoran agent’s life force is connected to their blade,” Krolia advised, holding out the sword. “I just saw it glow. He must still be alive!”

“Just barely.” Macidus’s tone was malicious. He turned his face toward Keith. “Your hand is looking much better.”

Keith looked confused. “My… hand?”

“You don’t remember our fight?”

Your eyes widened in shock. The Druid that had fought you when you initially found the pure Quintessence! The one who had injured Keith’s hand with his magic. You transformed your Bayard into its staff form at the same instant that Keith summoned his katana, the remembrance of the Druid flooding his memory.

“You’ve been using that signal to draw Blades in!” Keith snarled.

The other Paladins transformed their Bayards even as the mocking laughter of Macidus echoed throughout the cave. “Kolivan proved to be useful after all.”

He disappeared in a flash of light, and something dropped to the floor.

Krolia cried, “No!” just as a ball of purple light expanded. Before you could react, Kosmo teleported both you and Keith out of the cave. You patted the wolf thankfully as Keith looked around the cave.

“Where are we?” he asked, not expecting an answer.

A purple flash appeared in another part of the cave, and you raced away from it, trying to find cover. You held your breath as Macidus strode over the bridge beneath which you and Keith hid, dragging Kolivan’s sword behind him. He stopped just short of the end of the bridge, and for a moment you were terrified that he knew you were there. A canister rolled and he threw a lightning bolt at it, frightening the small creatures which had disturbed it. Macidus walked off, seemingly satisfied that there were no other intruders.

As you turned to crawl out from under the bridge, however, Kolivan’s blade was suddenly shoved between the slats of the bridge, directly in front of your face, and you let out a shrill scream. Macidus had known you were there, after all. You and Keith hugged Kosmo, and he teleported you to safety just as Macidus swung down again.

The three of you ran down the cave passage, and Macidus appeared in a flash before you. Skidding to a stop, you turned to run back the other way, only to find Macidus once again directly in front of you. You screamed again even as Keith swung his katana at Macidus’s mask with a snarl of fury. His mask fell away, revealing a malevolent gaze before he disappeared in a flash of light, his mocking laughter echoing around you.

You turned to find him behind you once again. “There is no escape but death!” he yelled, racing towards you with Kolivan’s blade raised. He swung at Keith, who rolled out of the way, allowing you to swing at the Druid with your staff.

Before the Druid could attack you, Kosmo pounced upon him, but the Druid disappeared just as the wolf prepared to sink his teeth into his neck.

You and Keith didn’t wait to see if Macidus would reappear, instead running down the cave passage in the hopes of finding Kolivan.

Macidus appeared behind you, but before he could attack, Kosmo again teleported the two of you away. Each time, Macidus popped up behind you a second or so after. With a triumphant grin, the Druid leaped towards you, aiming the blade directly at your heart. Before it could pierce your Paladin armour, however, Kosmo spirited you away once more.

You found yourselves in another cave, and as you looked around, a soft groan was heard behind you. You turned in the direction of the noise, and Keith let out a gasp. Hanging from the roof of the cave, limbs chained, was Kolivan. His breathing was shallow, and he was extremely weak.

“Kolivan,” Keith whispered. Raising his voice, he said, “I’ll get you out of here.”

Yet again, you heard the evil laughter of the Druid. Macidus appeared directly in front of Kolivan, blocking Keith’s access to his Marmora mentor.

“Our High Priestess Haggar has forsaken us because of _your_ treachery!” the Druid snarled. “But after I kill you and the other Paladins, Haggar will allow me to return.”

Silently, you and Keith looked at each other, and Kosmo immediately understood your unspoken plan. The three of you teleported away, each of you striking out at Macidus from a different direction as you reappeared directly in front of him. Over and over, you would strike and disappear, only to reappear a moment later in another part of the cave. Neither party could gain the upper hand, Macidus attacking you with as much ferocity as you and Keith were striking at him.

Macidus hurled a ball of lightning at you, and you and Keith yelled even as Kosmo once again teleported you away. The Druid kept lashing out with his lightning, and Kosmo gave a yelp of pain as he was struck. Keith was flung aside like a ragdoll, collapsing in a heap, and Macidus leered as he prepared to dish out a similar fate to you.

Without warning, the roof of the cave collapsed, and the other Paladins dropped down to join you. Macidus seemed stunned that they had managed to escape whatever trap he had set for them.

With a growl, he said, “I’m going to enjoy making Kolivan watch your end.”

He disappeared and then reappeared, taking out each Paladin one at a time before they could retaliate. Allura screamed in pain as the lightning seared through her.

Keith struggled to his feet, and the two of you stood side by side as you faced the evil Druid. He disappeared once more, and you glanced frantically around, trying to anticipate where he would appear.

Keith closed his eyes, concentrating as he focussed on the energy the Druid sent out. Opening his eyes, he hurled his katana straight in front of him, and it struck the heart of the Druid just as he reappeared. He vanished with a scream, his energy disippating as he was vanquished, and Kolivan’s blade fell to the floor with a clatter.

All of the Paladins lay panting. Lance gave Keith a thumbs up. “Good job, Keith.”

“Yeah,” Hunk groaned as he hauled himself to his feet. “I thought this was going to end with my face melted off like in that simulator.”

You and Keith ran to Kolivan, releasing him from his bonds. You, Keith and Krolia knelt beside him anxiously as Pidge scanned his vitals. “He’s in pretty bad shape, but it looks like he’s going to be okay.”

You pressed a kiss to the Marmoran’s cheek, ignoring that brief flicker of jealousy along the life-bond that Keith immediately smothered, before you began to dress his wounds. “You’re safe now, Kolivan.”

“Thank you, Little One.” Kolivan said softly, giving you a weak smile. He coughed and looked at everyone. “I… I’m sorry my code lured you here.”

“There was nothing you could do,” Keith told him. “The coordinates I gave you, the Altean colony. Were you able to find it?”

“I sent a team,” he whispered. “There was nothing there. Just an empty facility. They were all gone.”

Krolia stared at the wall of Marmoran weapons. “Judging from the blades that Macidus collected, he may have delivered a critical blow to the Marmora. But he did not defeat us entirely.”

Kolivan let out a shuddering breath. “I must… find the others. The universe needs us now more than ever.”

Krolia closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, they were filled with unspeakable sadness as well as a steely resolve. “I will join you. We will revive the Blade of Marmora together. We’ll just need to find a ship.”

Keith stared at his mother as Kolivan spoke again. “The Druid has a ship not far from here. We can use it to reunite the Blades.”

“That’s our first bit of luck in a long time,” Krolia said with a smile. Telling Kolivan to rest, she stood and walked towards Keith, her expression downcast. “Keith, I… I’m sorry to have to say goodbye to you for a second time.”

“It’s not goodbye. Take this.” Keith looked at the woman who had left him all those years ago in order to protect him, holding out the dagger that she had gifted him. “You can return it when we see each other again.”

The two of them embraced, Krolia’s lip trembling slightly as she attempted to hold back the tears threatening to spill over. She stepped away from her son with a sad smile.

Keith looked up at her. “Thanks for everything you taught me, Mom.”

You also embraced the Galra woman. “I’m going to miss you, Krolia. It’s been an honour knowing you.”

“Likewise, Y/N. Keith couldn’t have found a better life-mate.” You blushed at the Galra term for your life-bond, pleased that this formidable woman considered you good enough for her only child.

“Keith, Y/N,” Shiro called softly. “It’s time to get going.”

Krolia gave a sad smile. “I love you, Keith.”

“I love you, too, Mom.”  
  
Keith didn’t say another word as the Lions left the ravaged planet, and the mother he had only so recently found.


	5. The Void Screams Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the Paladins hurtle through space, you enter a seemingly endless void that tests your sanity – as well as your loyalty to each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter based on Series 7 Episode 6 “The Journey Within”

The Lions were continuing their long trek through the vast reaches of the universe. The trip was becoming mindnumbingly boring, with Hunk continually struggling to stay awake. Even Keith found himself nodding off accidentally now and again, lulled into slumber by the soft snores of Kosmo, who lay sprawled on the floor of the Black Lion’s cockpit. You lolled in the co-pilot’s seat, trying desperately to keep your eyes open, and hoping that something interesting would happen in the not too distant future.

Shiro was helping Pidge in her attempts to contact her father at the Garrison. “Maybe if we run this configuration…”

Pidge ran the test. “Still nothing. Allura, try the sonic wave.”

“Okay, I’ll try.” Allura tried to activate Blue’s sonic radar with no result. “It’s still not working, and it probably won’t work again until our power cores are recharged.”

“Roger that,” Pidge replied dejectedly. “Our long range scanners still haven’t detected any planets nearby. No star systems. Nothing.”

“Ugh. How long have we been out here?” came Lance’s bored voice.

“Going on four movements,” Romelle replied tonelessly.

Lance groaned. “And how long is it gonna take us to get to Earth at this speed?”

“I think Pidge said something like ten billion deca-phoebs,” the Altean girl said.

“I said one and a half Earth years,” Pidge corrected, immediately dousing Lance’s panic at the length of time required to get home.

“Woah, woah, wait,” Hunk interjected. “There’s a big discrepancy between ten billion deca-phoebs and one and a half Earth years. Which one is it?”

“It’s one and a half Earth years!” Pidge screeched, her patience wearing thin. “We’ve gone over this several times. Well, there might be a margin of error of about a month, depending on any time dilation we encounter.”

Shiro’s calm voice sounded through the Lions. “Look, we knew this wasn’t going to be an easy or quick voyage. But replacing the Castle of Lions is our top priority.”  
  
“We just have to stay sharp and maintain discipline,” Keith finally spoke. “We knew when we started this journey that we’d be low on power. We didn’t plan on going through the Galactic Void, but we’ll get through it.”

“Don’t worry, guys,” Lance said confidently. “We’ll run into something eventually that’ll turn this trip around.”

“What makes you so sure?” Hunk queried.

“If my experience in space has taught me anything, it’s that something _always_ comes along to try to kill us.”

You mentally amended your earlier wish that something interesting would happen. Boring was good. Boring was absolutely fine. You could handle boring, no problem.

**************************************

The endless blackness of space seemed much more inky than usual. It was as if the stars themselves had been extinguished.

“Hey, Pidge, why is it so dark out here?” Lance asked the team’s resident genius.

The tiny teen answered, “I can’t be sure, but my theory is that this area is surrounded by some kind of nebula that blocks most of the light.”

“Oh, yeah, must be a patch of that dark matter I’ve heard about,” Lance replied knowingly.

You snorted. “Lance, that isn’t what dark matter is.”

“Although, when it’s this _dark_ , I guess it doesn’t _matter,”_ Hunk deadpanned. The team gave a collective groan at his terrible pun. You swore you heard Pidge crying. The Yellow Paladin sighed. “This is why nobody rides with me anymore, isn’t it?”

“Guys, I think I might have an idea on how to get the Lions back to full power,” Shiro said.

Lance’s tone was unimpressed. “And you’re just now telling us this?”

“Well, I’m sorry, Lance, but I guess having my consciousness transplanted from the infinity of Voltron’s inner Quintessence into the evil body of a clone of myself has left me a little out of sorts for the past few weeks,” Shiro replied somewhat testily.

“What’s your idea, Shiro?” you asked, before any further unpleasantness could ensue.

“It’s difficult to articulate,” Shiro said. “But, remember when we were fighting Zarkon and we were hit by that beam that drained all of our Quintessence?”

“Yes,” Allura whispered. “You were all completely incapacitated.”

“That’s right. But we managed to regenerate enough power to keep fighting.”

Keith’s memory came flooding back. “Yeah, we repowered Voltron ourselves.”

“Exactly.” Shiro seemed pleased. “And I think that’s how it’s meant to work. Since I… disappeared, you’ve been relying on the Castle’s crystal to keep the Lions charged. But if you were a team of fully realised Paladins, you wouldn’t need that.”

“I… I can’t help but feel this must be my fault,” said Allura mournfully. “You were able to recharge Voltron before, but since I joined…”

“It’s no one’s fault,” Shiro assured the princess. “Being a Paladin of Voltron takes training. You just haven’t had time to focus on working together to find your balance in this configuration.”

“Well, we’ve got nothing but time now,” you pointed out.

“That’s right,” Lance added cheerfully. “We’ve been down before and we always come back.”

Keith’s smile could be heard in his voice. “I’m glad you’re here, Shiro. After all you went through, how did you find the strength to be the leader of Voltron?”

“I had help,” Shiro admitted. “That’s why there are six of you. To lift each other up.”

“So what should we do? Maybe some flight formation exercises?” Keith suggested.

“Ugh. No, Keith,” you groaned. Trust him to want to do something related to actual training, rather than something fun, for a team building exercise.

“What’s that?” Pidge asked.

Keith sounded surprised that Pidge didn’t know something. “You know, when you line up and…”

“No, no, no,” she interrupted. “ _That!_ Dead ahead.”

You looked out of the cockpit window, staring at the flashes of light pulsing ahead of you. You frowned at your screen. “My scanners aren’t picking anything up.”

An intense pulse of energy hit the Lions, surrounding them with a brilliant white light and tossing them as if they were toys.

“What the quiznak is this?” swore Lance.

Keith gritted his teeth as he tried to steer the Black Lion out of the energy pulse. “Whatever it is, we’ve gotta move!”

The Paladins attempted to fly out of the energy field, but were buffeted by lightning every few seconds.

As Black was struck by another flash of lightning, Keith barked, “Brake high!”

The others followed his lead, flying straight up and out of the energy field. Before any of you could breathe a sigh of relief that you were safe, however, another large pulse of light hit the Lions, draining them of power. The Lions floated listlessly through the blackness of space.

Slowly, Keith blinked. “Is everyone alright?”

You groaned. “I think so.”

“I’m here,” muttered Pidge.

“Still alive,” said Lance, almost sounding disappointed at this.

“That was crazy,” Hunk added.

“I’m fine,” Allura confirmed.

You looked behind you, and gasped. Keith turned to see what had upset you, and he grew alarmed when he noticed Kosmo floating as if frozen. “Hey, are you okay, buddy?”

Pidge’s voice came over the comms. “Shiro seems to be frozen, but his vitals are strong.”

“Same here,” Keith told her.

“Copy that with Romelle. What’s going on?” Lance asked, now sounding frightened.

“Coran is frozen as well,” Allura mentioned.

“Our Paladin armour must have protected us from the shock,” you realised.

Allura spoke again. “The Blue Lion is completely incapacitated.”

“Yeah, Red is out too,” Lance confirmed.

“So we’re all alone in space. No power. No way to call for help. Nothing within several thousand light years.” Hunk’s panic was escalating.

“What are we gonna do?” asked Lance.

Keith stared at Kosmo for a moment before he spoke. “Pidge, is there any way to get the Lions back up and running?”

Pidge replied, “Maybe, but I don’t know how long it will take, and I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we’re all drifting in opposite directions after that blast.”

“If we don’t get the power back on, we might lose each other,” you said, your concern evident.

Keith made his decision. “Okay, the power’s gonna have to wait. Our top priority is tethering the Lions together.”

“I think I have an idea of how we can do it,” Allura advised.

“How?” queried Lance. “Some magical powers you learned on Oriande?”

“No. I have some leftover zipline in my hull,” the princess replied seriously. Lance voiced his disappointment that the princess had provided such a mundane answer.

“We’re getting out of our Lions to do this?” Hunk did not sound happy about this decision. “We don’t even know what that energy pulse was.”

“It’s the only way to stay together,” Keith responded. “Allura, grab that zipline. Let’s get moving.”

You and Keith exited the Black Lion, and noted the other Paladins doing likewise. “Everyone stay sharp and hang on,” Keith ordered.

“Ugh. So many Lions. All spinning.” Hunk sounded nauseous.

“Come on, Hunk, you’ve been through worse than this,” Lance said encouragingly.

“Like Lance’s flying,” you teased, causing your friend to poke his tongue out at you.

Allura attached one end of the zipline to Blue. “You’re going to need to push your Lions to my location. Otherwise there won’t be enough cord to attach us together.”

“By ourselves?” Hunk objected. “I don’t think that’s possible.”

He attempted to push the Yellow Lion towards Allura, with no success. “Our thrusters just don’t have enough power. This is gonna take forever. We’re gonna have to do this one by one.”

“On our way,” Keith told him. “Everyone to the Yellow Lion.”

He took off without waiting to see if you were following, and the others did the same. As you were pushing the Yellow Lion towards Blue, Lance turned and gave a cry of alarm. The rest of you turned to see what he had noticed, and another pulse of bright light surrounded you.

“Everyone hold on!” Keith cried, and each Paladin clung to the Yellow Lion as tightly as they could. The energy surged around you, shaking the team loose one by one.

“I’m losing my grip!” cried Pidge, before falling away.

Hunk followed soon after, bumping into the rest of you and causing everyone else to also lose their hold of the Lion. All of you activated the thrusters on your jetpacks, which had little effect. You were tossed around as if you were toys.

“I’m losing sight of all of you!” you panicked, as you tumbled head over feet.

“Stay together!” Keith urged, reaching for you desperately. He managed to grab you by the wrist, and you clung to him as if your life depended on it.

Lance called that he had caught Hunk, and Allura grabbed Pidge. They somehow made their way to you and Keith, all of you holding tightly to each other.

“Fire your jetpacks!” Keith cried. “Let’s get stabilised.”

The team fired their jetpacks and eventually slowed the spinning, finally coming to a halt. You pulled them all in tightly, huddling together in a tight circle.

Lance looked around wildly. “Does anyone have eyes on the Lions?”

None of you could see them. Hunk said, “At this point, I don’t even know which direction they’re in.”

“Okay, let’s run through our checklist,” Keith said, the leader in him rising to the fore. “Does anyone have any supplies?”

Nobody had anything. No food, no water.

“Our suits will recycle enough moisture to keep us hydrated for a few days,” Keith noted, squeezing your hand. “We just need to hang tight. We have each other.”

Lance grinned. “Don’t worry, Hunk. Something else will be along to kill us any minute now.”

**************************************

The six of you drifted through the void of space, surrounded by absolute nothingness.

Keith blinked wearily as a timer blinked on his helmet. “Everybody sound off.”

One by one, you all confirmed that you were still together, linked arm in arm, backs to each other as you all tried in vain to pinpoint where in the universe you were.

“Hunk?” Keith asked.

A moment of silence before Hunk spoke. “I’m hiding.”

“I need you to sound off, Hunk,” Keith scolded the Yellow Paladin. “It’s important to maintain discipline and mental acuity in these situations. These techniques helped my mom and I through the Quantum Abyss.”

“Keith is right,” you muttered tonelessly. “Being lost in space has been known to drive people mad.”

Allura added, “Too much time contemplating infinity is not good for the mind.”

“I like to keep busy calculating Pi out as long as I can,” Pidge murmured. “The record is four quadrillion, but that’s using the Hadoop parallelisation framework. I’m just using my brain.”

“Ha ha. Hadoop,” Hunk giggled.

Lance blinked, then perked up. “Wait, guys, look. Lights!”

“Told you Lance would go crazy first,” Hunk boasted.

“No, no, no!” Pidge cried happily. “I see them! There really are lights!”

All of you turned to see the bright light surging towards you. It looked almost like a flock of birds made from starlight.

“Yes! We’re rescued!” Hunk cheered.

The creatures swarmed around you. Pidge and Allura seemed particularly taken by their beauty, reaching out for them as they encircled you.

“We should follow them,” said Hunk.

Keith stared at the Yellow Paladin. “What?”

“Yeah. They must be going somewhere, like a hive or something. Wherever that is must be better than floating around here just starving to death.”

Keith took a deep breath, clearing his mind. “Hunk’s right. Let’s follow them. Everyone stay together.”

You once more activated your jetpacks, and instantly the creatures disappeared. The team sighed with disappointment.

“Where did they go?” Lance whined.

“Were they even real?” Allura whispered.

“I guess they could have been a hallucination,” you guessed. “But that usually only happens when you’re… going mad…”

**************************************

Keith’s timer beeped. “Everyone…” He swallowed and spoke more firmly. “Everyone sound off.”

“Y/N here.”

“Allura here.”

“Lance here.”  
  
“Pidge here.”

No response from Hunk. Keith turned to look at him. “Hunk, sound off immediately!”

“Keith,” you admonished your team leader. “You don’t have to…”

“It’s okay, Y/N,” Hunk said pleasantly. “I was just kinda… you know, lost in this fantasy that we get to Earth and, you know, the Garrison would throw us a parade and all that stuff and, you know, maybe I’d meet some hotshot pilot who wanted to check out the Yellow Lion and then maybe the Yellow Lion would take a shine to her, obviously, and then I’d be like, ‘Woah I can’t stand in between you two, the bond is too strong here’…”  
  
“Hunk, _what_ are you talking about?” Lance moaned.

Keith sighed. “Fantasising about quitting Voltron.”

“No, no, no, no! Not _quitting._ No, just, you know, being the bigger man. Stepping aside to pass the baton down to a younger generation,” Hunk clarified.

“Am I wrong,” interjected Allura. “Or is Hunk still very young by Earth standards?”

“No, I think time is different for me,” Hunk told her. “Like I’m on dog years or something.”

Without warning, the team was caught in another flash of light. Rather than the brilliant white of the previous pulses, however, this was an angry, fiery red. The team screamed in pain as they were lashed with lightning and fire. The lightning wrapped around your ankles and started pulling you in an opposite direction to the others.

“I’m being pulled away!” you shrieked, trying desperately to maintain your hold on Keith and Hunk.

“Something is attacking us! Keith, what do we do?” Hunk yelled.

Keith, however, didn’t appear to hear any of you. His eyes were unfocused, pupils shrunk to mere pinpricks, as he grimaced. With an angry snarl, he let go of Hunk’s hand and began slashing wildly at the lightning with his Bayard.

As suddenly as it had appeared, the fiery pulse vanished. Keith continued to slash wildly at nothing until you managed to wrap one arm around him, trying to calm him.

He looked at you angrily. “My Bayard won’t work! We don’t know where the Lions are, we’re being attacked by things we can’t even see!”

Lance looked at him perplexedly. “Keith, what are you talking about? There’s nothing out there. It’s just us.”

Keith stared at all of you, before his pupils dilated and his eyes returned to normal.

Clearly, something was very wrong.

**************************************

Keith’s timer beeped. After several seconds of silence, you nudged him. “Keith, shouldn’t we sound off?”

“What’s the point?” he asked dully.

“Y/N here,” you sounded off.

“Lance here.”

“Pidge here.”

Hunk and Allura also sounded off. Only Keith remained quiet.

“I wonder how my dad and Matt are doing,” Pidge pondered.

“Better than us,” Keith replied. “Hopefully.”

“My father had something he always said in dire situations,” Allura began.

“Give up?” suggested Keith.

“Sorry?” The princess sounded indignant.

Keith continued to taunt Allura. “Just doesn’t seem like he was a real fighter when the chips were down.”

“Keith, come on,” you said.

“You have a lot of nerve questioning someone’s leadership,” Allura sneered. “Think how _you_ left us!”

“Allura, please,” you pleaded, hoping to maintain harmony within the team.

“As I recall, _you_ were the one who got us all cosied up to Lotor!” Keith threw back at her.

“Keith!” Lance chimed in. “You ran away. Maybe you should have just stayed away.”

“Lance, Keith, everyone, stop!” Hunk yelled. The others turned to him in surprise. “Look, I understand what’s happening here. You’re all brave heroes who don’t know how to react to being scared and it’s causing you to attack one another. That, or you’re all going space mad. Hopefully, you’re just scared. I’m scared all the time! I can talk you through it.”

Keith scowled at the Yellow Paladin. “Sorry, Hunk. I guess I just don’t know how to be a coward.”

“Right! That’s what I’m saying,” Hunk replied cheerfully, deliberately ignoring the insult that the Red Paladin had hurled at him.

“Why don’t you just leave him alone, Keith?” Lance hissed. “Just drift off by yourself, Mister Lone Wolf!”

“Fine!” Keith turned to leave.

“No! Don’t!” You reached out and grabbed Keith by the ankle before he could fly away. “We have to stay together!”

“Why, Y/N?” Keith stared down at you balefully. “Are we really even friends? Is there anything holding us together besides some messed up series of coincidences? I mean, what are we? Some chosen saviours? Do you _really_ believe that? What are we even doing out here?”

His voice was becoming increasingly hysterical, and you tried vainly to soothe him through your life-bond, although it was difficult. Keith’s agitation was wearing you down, and you weren’t sure how much more you could take.

“Keith, we’re doing what we have to.”

He kicked at you, trying to escape your grasp. “Let me go!” 

You held his gaze, your eyes staring into the violet-grey depths of his. “No! I told you before that you are never leaving me again, and I meant that! We do this together, Keith, all of us. Because if we don’t, we will all die. And I, for one, am not prepared to die alone.”

Keith looked at you, and felt a pang of guilt when he noted the tears of distress in your eyes. Yet again, he was causing you pain. He just couldn’t help it. No matter what he did, he only ended up hurting you. You deserved better. It would be better if he left.

Before he could tell you that, Pidge called everyone’s attention back to the predicament you were all in. “Uh, guys?”

A bright light was coming towards you.

Lance’s voice was apprehensive. “Is it more of those creatures?”

“No,” replied Allura. “It appears to be a single source. It looks like a planet.”

“No way,” breathed Lance. “It’s… Earth.”

“That wave must have knocked us all the way across the universe,” Pidge grinned.

“We’re home!” cried Lance.

Without thinking, everyone turned and flew towards the planet you had been trying to reach for months. This was it. You were finally going home.

Looking around, Hunk noticed several important things seemed to be missing. “Guys, where’s the Sun? Where’s the other planets? Or the moon?”

As the rest of you continued to race towards home, Hunk called out urgently. “Stop! This is too good to be true!”

He flew in front of you, hands up, halting your progress. “Everybody, stop!”

“Hunk, what are you doing?” protested Allura.

“Stop it, Hunk!” yelled Lance.

The Yellow Paladin stood his ground. “No. No, something is wrong.”

“Hunk, you’re hallucinating!” cried Pidge. “You’re going space mad! Just let us take you home!”

The five of you attempted to pull Hunk with you, but he pushed back against you, once again stopping you from moving towards your home world. “No! Listen to yourselves. You’re letting all of this get the better of you. There’s no way that could be Earth!”

“Just trust us, Hunk,” you told him. “You’ll thank us when we get there."

“Let me go!” he yelled, pulling away from you and flying in the opposite direction. As the rest of you continued to make your way towards Earth, he summoned his cannon with his Bayard, and fired a blast through the middle of the group.

Everyone dodged out of the way with cries of alarm as the cannon blast surged past you. The beam exploded on Earth, and suddenly the planet shimmered and disappeared. In its place was a vast eyeball.

“What the quiznak is that thing?” Lance cried, staring at the large creature directly in front of you.

Pidge squeaked, “Hunk was right.”

“He saved us,” Allura whispered.

“Here it comes!” Hunk yelled as the creature moved in your direction.

It opened its cavernous jaws, displaying row after row of sharp, wicked looking teeth. All of you scrambled to evade it.

“Guys, that thing is hunting us,” Lance realised. “It’s gonna get us all unless we do something!”

“Like what?” cried Allura. “We can’t even use our Bayards.”

“How did you manifest yours, Hunk?” Pidge demanded.

“I don’t know,” admitted Hunk. “I just knew that I needed to.”

Lance spoke again. “What are we gonna do? We don’t stand a chance!”

“Get out of here!” Hunk said as he flew towards the beast. “I’ll buy you some time. Go!”

“Hunk, no!” you yelled.

He ignored you, firing blast after blast from his cannon as he hurled himself at the deadly monster. His progress came to a sudden halt as he found himself with his foot in Pidge’s grasp. “What are you doing?”

“Fire jetpacks!” screamed Pidge, ignoring Hunk’s question.

All of you did as the Green Paladin ordered, firing your thrusters at full capacity and moving in the opposite direction to the hideous creature. You flew safely out of the path of its ravenous mouth.

Hunk whirled on all of you. “What are you guys doing? I told you to escape!”

Lance looked at him seriously. “Why would we ever do that without you?”

“Yeah, you can’t expect us to just leave you,” Pidge added.

“We’re a team, Hunk,” Allura told him. “We have to stick together, like you and Y/N said.”

Keith looked guilty. “I’m sorry I said those hurtful things earlier. I was wrong. This series of messed up coincidences _did_ happen for a reason. It brought us together as Paladins. But more importantly,” he said, smiling at each of you in turn. “It brought us together as friends.”

You all smiled back at your team leader, and you felt the connection with the other Paladins like never before. Your Bayards immediately transformed, even as you felt your link with your Lions awaken once more.

Flying towards the creature, Keith said, “All right, team. We have to attack this thing with our Bayards from every side possible. That way it can’t target us all at once.”

You did as Keith requested, striking from every side so that the creature couldn’t focus on any of you. Its attention was divided in six different directions.

Pidge latched onto it with her Bayard, but screeched in alarm as she found herself being dragged behind the creature. It turned sharply, and she was flung into Lance, causing him to shoot wide. The two of them floated over to the rest of you as the creature wheeled around to attack once more.

“It’s toying with us!” you realised.

As it came towards you, mouth agape, you heard a roar behind you. The Lions had arrived, summoned by your new-found connection with each other. They fired their mouth and tail cannons at the creature even as it tried to turn and flee. Eventually it was driven off, and the Lions hovered protectively over all of you.

“Yeah, you’d better run!” Lance called after the monster.

Pidge pointed behind the Lions. “I think he might actually be running from that!”

More energy pulses flashed behind the Lions.

“Again?” Hunk cried in outrage.

“I know we can’t outrun it,” Allura said mournfully.

Keith’s face grew determined. “We’re not running this time.”

The Paladins returned to their Lions, preparing to face the lightning storm again. Keith gave the order you had all longed to hear for weeks. “Form Voltron!”

The Lions came together for the first time in what felt like forever, and faced the oncoming energy pulse. When it hit, Voltron flew through the centre of it. The consoles in both the Black and Red Lions lit up, and Keith and Lance simultaneously shoved their Bayards into position. Voltron formed a gigantic pair of jets on its back, and the thrusters significantly boosted the speed at which the robot defender flew through the storm.

As Voltron flew out the other side of the storm, Keith collapsed with relief against the controls. He sat up as he heard a whine, and looked to find Kosmo shaking himself groggily. The space-wolf padded up to you and rested his head on your lap, whining pitifully, as you buried your face in his shaggy fur.

“What’s wrong, sweetheart?” Keith asked, feeling your despondent attitude through your life-bond.

You sighed. “I should have known it wasn’t real. Seeing Earth.”

“Y/N, you couldn’t have known. We were all hallucinating,” Keith reminded you.

“Hunk knew,” you said softly. “He recognised that there were no other familiar celestial bodies nearby. I didn’t. I let you all down. What kind of navigator am I if I can’t even notice that the moon was missing from Earth’s orbit?”

Keith wrapped an arm around you. “Babe, you were going a little space mad. We all were. Don’t beat yourself up over it. None of us blame you. I certainly don’t.”  
  
You sighed again, hugging Kosmo close to you. “I guess I didn’t realise just how much I miss home until now.”

“It looks like that nebula carried us thousands of light years away,” Allura’s voice came through the comms, shaking you from your reverie.

“So where are we?” Coran asked. He and the others were also now unfrozen.

Pidge scanned the screen in disbelief. “That looks like… I recognise these constellations! This is Earth’s solar system!”

Could it be? Was it still too good to be true?

You raced to the cockpit window and stared out at a sight you never thought you’d see again. “It’s the Milky Way!”

“Home,” Hunk whispered.

Lance’s voice was also quiet. “We made it.”

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Keith whooped. He pushed the thrusters to full speed, and Voltron raced towards Earth.


	6. Home Is Where The Heart Is

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After receiving a warning from Pidge’s father, the Paladins return to Earth, in the hope that Sam can provide them with information that can help them defeat Sendak. Not every Paladin has a happy reunion with their loved ones.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Skipping the majority of Series 7 Episode 7 and all of Episode 8 as they relate to what happens at the Garrison when Pidge’s dad returns to Earth, rather than Team Voltron. So this picks up when the team arrives on Earth, during the events of Series 7, Episode 9 “Know Your Enemy”.

Voltron flew towards the spiral of the Milky Way, all of you filled with joy at the thought of finally returning home after all this time.

“I can’t believe it. We’re finally back to Earth,” Hunk said happily.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” You could hear the grin as Keith replied. He pushed the throttle to full capacity, and Voltron sped towards your home galaxy.

“I’ll see if I can get a message out to my dad,” advised Pidge, her excitement obvious. “Dad, it’s me, Pidge. Do you copy? We’re back in Earth’s solar system and heading home now.”

There was nothing but static. Then, faintly, a familiar voice came through the comms. **[To any beings who receive this message…]**

“Dad! You’re okay! How’s Mom? And Matt? Is he with you?”

The voice continued, sounding as if it was a recorded broadcast. **[… most of the cities… [static]…]**

“Hold on,” Pidge responded, punching a few buttons. “Let me try to get a clearer signal.”

After a few seconds, Sam’s voice returned. **[… has been captured.]**

“What? Who’s captured? Dad, what are you saying?”

**[… remaining are making our last stand. If you get this message, please get word to Voltron. We need help.]**

Keith checked his console, his face growing concerned as he noted several highlighted areas. He brought up a magnified image, and your horrified gasp mirrored his own as you noted the Galra warship. He contacted the others. “Guys, are you seeing this?”

The image was sent to the others, and Allura murmured, “Oh, no.”

Sam’s recording began again, clearly playing on a loop. **[To any beings that receive this message, planet Earth has been overrun by the Galra.]**

“The Galra have invaded Earth,” Lance whispered.

**[Most of the citizens have been captured]** the recording continued. **[Those of us remaining are making our last stand. If you get this message, please get word to Voltron. We need help.]**

“It’s not a reply,” you said softly. “It’s a distress signal.”

What had happened since Sam Holt had left you all those years ago?

**************************************

Voltron sped through the galaxy, aiming as quickly as possible for Earth. Pidge once again opened a communication channel. “Dad, please respond. Voltron is coming! Hold on!”

“Are we too late?” Hunk asked, hoping that you weren’t.

Pidge kept trying to contact her father, and after what felt like an eternity Sam’s voice was heard. “Katie? Katie, is that you?”

“Dad!” Pidge’s voice rang out. “It’s me, I’m here!”

“Katie! I’m so glad to hear your voice. Where are you?”  
  
“We’re within the solar system,” Pidge replied. “Heading to Earth now.”

“Wait! You _must_ stop!” Sam’s voice was filled with urgency.

Keith frowned, convinced he must have misheard what Commander Holt had just said. “What? Say again?”

“Stop. Sendak has invaded the planet. He’s taken over Earth,” Sam told you. “If he finds out that Voltron is here, he’ll threaten the people of Earth in exchange for the Lions.”

You shuddered. Sendak again. The most sadistic of all the Galra you had faced as a Paladin of Voltron. You dreaded to think what the people of Earth had suffered under his hands.

There was no choice. Keith gave the order. “Reverse thrusters!”

Hunk and Allura complied, and Voltron eventually slowed its flight. As you came out of hyperspace, you found yourselves facing a small fleet of Galra fighters. They turned to fire at you, but for some reason, they seemed to be having difficulty tracking you.

Sam’s voice sounded once again over the comms. “Paladins, we’ve blocked the patrol’s transmission. You’re clear.”

“Roger that,” Lance replied. “Let’s take ‘em out!”

The Red Lion fired upon the trio of fighters, destroying two. Lance aimed at the third fighter, but before he could fire Pidge called out, “Stop! Don’t destroy that fighter! We might need it.”

“Really?” Lance sounded sceptical. “For what?”

“I’ve got an idea,” the tiny Paladin smirked.

**************************************

The Lions flew towards the rings of Saturn.

“We can’t fly to Earth without being spotted,” Pidge was explaining. “So they’ll have to stay here, on this moon in Saturn’s rings, which should keep them hidden from Sendak’s radars. We’ll fly in another way.”

The Lions landed on the rocky surface of the Saturnian moon and everyone descended from them.

It was extremely crowded in the back of the Galra jet that Pidge had commandeered, as all of the Paladins were squashed into the back with Coran, Kosmo and the mice. However, there was only room for one pilot in the cockpit, and it was unanimously agreed that the person flying it should be Keith, as he was the only one who could successfully integrate with Galra technology now that Shiro’s prosthetic was gone.

The Red Paladin took off from Saturn’s moon and recommenced the arduous journey to Earth. He remained apprehensive as he flew between the fleets of Galra warships scattered throughout the solar system, but Pidge’s plan appeared to be working. He flew through the fleets without incident.

Eventually, the jet began shaking violently. Keith called out, “Hang on! We’re entering Earth’s atmosphere.”

“This is weird. This is almost exactly how we left Earth,” Hunk noted. “Crammed in the cockpit of the Blue Lion.”

“We’re overweight,” Keith said as the jet shuddered violently. “I’m losing altitude! Brace for impact!”

He flew towards a rocky ravine, pulling the nose of the jet up as fast as he could. The jet smashed into the ground, and then everything went black.

**************************************

After making sure nobody was injured, everyone exited the jet and made their way towards a rocky outcrop. As you reached the edge, you stared in dismay. The city before you had been completely decimated. Buildings were destroyed, nothing but scattered ruins standing before you.

Hunk frowned. “I know this place. I’ve been here. This is Platt City. It’s about half an hour from the Garrison.”

“Woah,” Lance uttered somberly. “I can’t believe this is all that’s left of it.”

“We need to get to the Garrison,” Keith said. “Stay together. Let’s move quick and quiet.”

Despite the seriousness of what you were witnessing, you couldn’t help but feel a burst of pride at Keith’s leadership. He was finally becoming the leader that Shiro had always known he could be. More importantly, Keith finally seemed to be believing it himself.

The team wandered through the ravaged city, weapons drawn as you kept a wary eye out for the enemy. Your heart broke as you noticed toys and belongings scattered throughout the wasteland. You couldn’t imagine the terror that the citizens must have felt at being so brutalised by the savage aliens.

Your progress was interrupted by a pair of Galra drones, which began firing at you. Everyone scrambled for cover. Hunk yelled as he fired his cannon, swinging it in a wide arc at the attacking drones.

Keith and Lance were pinned behind an overturned car, a drone firing rapidly at them. Keith nodded to the Blue Paladin. “I’ll distract it. You take the shot.” He took a step before turning back to Lance. “Don’t miss.”

He slid over the hood of another car, as if he was the hero of an action movie, and ran through the rubble-covered streets of the city. The drones pursued him, firing as he dodged and weaved through the streets.

Lance had never looked more confident. As Keith ran, he took aim and fired at the drones in rapid succession, destroying them before they could lock onto Keith. He spotted another drone in his peripheral vision, and fired at the same time as he turned, destroying the drone just as it was about to fire at your hiding spot.

You kicked at the broken remnants of the drone. “I wonder how many of these things they have around here.”

“Pidge, any chance we could see those things before they get to us?” Keith asked.

The young tech-head checked her wrist scanner. “Already on it. Looks like we’ve got four more headed our way.”

Just as she finished speaking, you were fired upon, causing all of you to duck for cover again.

“It’s not drones,” Shiro said. “Look.”

Risking a peek from behind the safety of the wall you had hidden behind, you noted that it was a troop of Galra sentries firing at you. Hunk and Lance returned the favour, taking out several of the sentries before you were fired at from behind as well. Turning, Lance saw the drones coming from the opposite direction and began aiming at them while Hunk focussed on the sentries.

A sentry charged at Hunk, but before he could react, a large vehicle ran straight over the sentry, crushing it beneath its wheels. The SUV skidded to a stop a few feet away, a door opening as a young man hopped out, rifle ready.

Another vehicle came up behind it, and another Garrison soldier jumped out, firing a pistol at the sentries. A female voice called out, “Stay down! We got this!”

Keith growled irritably. “I had it!”

“Drones send out distress signals when they’re attacked,” another voice said. “Our weapons neutralise those signals, so unless you want to deal with a swarm of those things, let us handle it. Now let’s get out of here before more show up.”

Without a word, you followed the young man’s directions, hopping into the utility vehicle driven by the other officer. Keith followed you, while the rest of the team divided themselves amongst the two vehicles. They sped back to the Garrison, calling ahead to let them know of your impending arrival.

All of you stared, slack-jawed, as you noted the enormous particle barrier protecting the entire Garrison. So much had changed in the time you’d been in space – the majority of it for the worse, as far as you could tell. But Sam Holt had obviously been able to implement much of what he’d learned whilst a Galra prisoner, as well as during his brief time in the Castle of Lions, upon his return to Earth. Integrating the alien technologies with those of Earth had been his top priority, and it appeared that he had at least partially succeeded.

As you approached the main part of the base, you noticed that a sizeable crowd had gathered. Many uniformed officers were awaiting your arrival, and there also appeared to be a large group of civilians.

Pidge perked up, and a broad smile brightened her face as she beheld the face of her mother. The tiny teen had missed her more than she had been willing to admit. As the patrol vehicle skidded to a stop, Pidge barely waited for the hatch to open before leaping into her mother’s waiting arms. “Mom!”

The two of them collapsed onto the ground, holding tightly to one another, as Sam and a friendly pitbull joined them. Mrs Holt kept whispering how happy she was that her daughter was home, and Pidge was crying with joy.

Before he could burst into tears himself, Lance heard his name being called. He turned and saw two small children running towards him. “Uncle Lance!”

“Hey!” he yelled, and jumped from the vehicle. He skidded to his knees as he was pounced upon by his niece and nephew, who were greeting him boisterously. The rest of his family ran up and enveloped him in a group hug. “I missed you all so much!”

He looked closely at his youngest relatives. “Wow, you both are so much bigger now.”

The smallest one giggled. “You’re still the same size!”

Hunk stared at Lance and Pidge wistfully, before looking around for his own family.

“It’s good to have you home,” Commander Holt said to the Yellow Paladin.

“So… my family?” Hunk asked softly.

Commander Holt grew sombre. “We’ll get them back soon.”

Despite yourself, you looked to see if your parents were in attendance. You were not surprised to find that they weren’t, but that didn’t make your disappointment any less. You sighed bitterly, and Keith squeezed your hand sympathetically. He knew of your strained relationship with your parents, and that as far as you were concerned this was just one more indication that the Garrison was more important to them than you were.

A gruff voice greeted the rest of you as Shiro helped Allura from the transport. “Officer Shirogane. It’s great to see you again.”

Shiro turned to face Commander Iverson, who stood straight and proud as usual. The one-eyed officer spoke again. “My apologies for throwing you in quarantine.”

“Aha! So _you’re_ the one that strapped Shiro to a table,” Coran humphed, arms crossed as he glared at Iverson, unimpressed. “I heard about that.”

“You were just following orders, as any good soldier would,” Shiro said soothingly, hoping to avoid any awkwardness. He smiled at Iverson. “It’s good to see you, too. Allow me to introduce you to our Altean allies.”

He introduced Princess Allura, Romelle and Coran to the burly officer, who smiled gently at all of them. “The honour is mine. Your technology has been instrumental in defending this small corner of Earth.”

Iverson then turned to glare at you. “And Cadet!”

You snapped to attention, saluting your superior. “Sir, yes Sir!”

“About time you showed up,” he grinned.

“Sorry, Sir. I got called away on an unexpected assignment.” You looked at him hesitantly. “Permission to greet you as a friend, Sir, rather than as a Commanding Officer?”

Iverson grinned at you. “Kiddo, I thought you’d never ask.”

With a cheer, you threw your arms around your former CO in an enthusiastic hug, which he returned just as eagerly. The burly Commander had always been fond of you, having watched you grow up during your childhood at the Garrison headquarters, and he had taken you under his wing when you’d officially become a cadet. Iverson had never treated you as special, despite your lineage, but had always treated you as an equal to the other cadets. He had praised you when it was warranted, reprimanded you when it was – usually very thoroughly – deserved, and had shown you nothing but fairness and kindness.

You returned his treatment of you as a ‘normal’ cadet with unbridled affection and an enormous amount of respect. You had been much closer to Iverson than to either of your parents, and had considered him to be almost a surrogate father. He and Shiro had been the CO’s that you had looked up to and admired the most during your cadetship.

“Sir, I’m sure you remember Cadet Kogane,” you gestured towards Keith, who was kneeling beside Kosmo, hoping that Iverson wouldn’t notice him.

“Cadet,” Iverson nodded gruffly.

Keith stood straight, executing a crisp salute. “Yes, Sir!”

“I… owe you an apology as well,” Iverson told him, to Keith’s utter amazement. “I’ve heard about all you’ve done. I was… wrong about you. It’s an honour and privilege to see you again.”

Keith grinned wryly at the Commander who had so unceremoniously kicked him out of the Garrison only a few years ago. “Thank you, Sir. I guess I wasn’t exactly the… _best_ cadet back then. I probably owe you a bit of an apology, too.”

You stared at both of them, eyes nearly popping from your head. Iverson and Keith were apologising to each other. Wonders would never cease. Both of them shook hands warmly, and you made a mental note to ask Keith whether he had been body-swapped with Hunk.

Iverson turned his attentions to your furry companion, who had been standing between you and Keith, whining softly. “And who’s this little fella?”

“This is Kosmo,” you said, as the wolf sniffed tentatively at Iverson’s outstretched hand. The space-wolf obviously recognised that Iverson was one of the good guys, because he immediately rubbed up against him, demanding to be petted.

“Aw, Kosmo likes you,” Coran said ostentatiously, as Iverson cooed over the furry hound. “But be careful. If you touch it, it could zap you to a different universe.”

You snorted indelicately at Iverson’s horrified expression. “Kosmo has a habit of teleporting at inconvenient moments,” you clarified. “But I’m sure he’ll be on his best behaviour while he’s on base.”

The wolf looked away loftily, as if insulted that you would think so little of him.

Keith felt eyes upon him, and turned to find one of the young officers staring at him. The young man removed his helmet, and Keith stared in shock at his former nemesis, James Griffin.

Griffin returned his stare coolly, before stalking away without a word.

**************************************

“It’s good to have you back, Cadet,” Commander Iverson said, a smile gracing his normally gruff features. He poured you a cup of caf, and took a sip of his own.

“It’s good to be back, Sir,” you replied.

“Your parents send their apologies,” Iverson told you. “They had to join the Admiral for an urgent briefing with the leaders of the West Coast Garrison, so they weren’t able to greet you upon your arrival here. But they should be free within the hour.”

“It’s fine, Sir. I understand that Garrison business takes priority,” you murmured.

Changing the subject smoothly, Iverson peppered you with questions about your time away, from the moment you had absconded from the Garrison with Shiro in tow, through to the most recent events you’d experienced as part of Team Voltron. He had seemed particularly interested in the bonds you had developed with both the Red and Black Lions, as well as the Red Paladin.

“So you’re a pilot now, huh?” he asked.

“Yes, Sir. I still don’t fly quite as often – or as well - as the others, but I’ve had more opportunity than I ever thought I would.”  
  
“Glad to hear it, kid. You had a lot of potential, even if you did have your heart set on being a grease monkey. I never understood why your folks insisted on you becoming a navigator instead. But it wasn’t my position to question that decision. I just did what I was told.”  
  
You gave him a grin. “Well, that makes one of us, Sir.”

He barked a laugh. “You never were very good at following orders you didn’t agree with. That’s probably why you worked so well with Kogane. Both stubborn as mules, hot-headed, argumentative…”

“He’s not so bad, Sir. Keith has really matured and grown in confidence and tactical skills in our time away. He even listens on occasion now. He’s actually become a pretty inspirational leader to all of us,” you said proudly.

“Huh. Always knew he had it in him.” Iverson gave a huge sigh. “Never did sit right with me, having to get rid of him. But your folks wanted him gone, and the Admiral gave the order, so I had no choice.”

Your eyes narrowed at your mentor. “What do you mean, Sir?”

Iverson’s expression grew wary. “Sorry. I was speaking out of turn.”

He attempted to change the subject, but you were having none of it. “Commander, what do you mean that you _had to_ get rid of Keith?”

Seeing that you were not going to be dissuaded from dropping the subject, Iverson sighed. “Your parents were… unimpressed that you were developing such a… well, that you seemed to be getting along with Kogane so well. It was bad enough that he was the only one to have developed some sort of professional rapport with you when flying. But when it looked like you were also beginning to build a friendship with him… well, let’s just say that was the nail in the proverbial coffin for his cadetship.”  
  
You stared at Iverson, unable to believe what he was telling you. “Sir, are you saying that my parents and Admiral Sanda _ordered_ you to have Keith expelled?”  
  
He sighed again. “It had been decreed that you were to be partnered with Griffin. No correspondence was to be entered into. Your parents were adamant that you were to work with Griffin, and Griffin only, and the Admiral agreed. My hands were tied.”

“And you agreed to it? Did Shiro know?"  
  
Iverson looked at you. “Kiddo, I had no choice. It was an official order to have him expelled on disciplinary grounds. His track record of disobeying orders and physical assaults on the other cadets was enough for the other Generals to agree. I’m sorry.”

Tears of anger filled your eyes. You knew your parents had tried to control your future, but you had no idea just how far that control had extended. With a mumbled apology, you hurriedly left Iverson’s office.

You needed to confront your parents.

**************************************

You stormed into your father’s office, not caring whether he had company or not. Luckily, the only other person in the room was your mother. Two birds with one stone, then.

“Is it true?” You stared at your parents with contempt. “Did you ask Admiral Sanda to order Commander Iverson to expel Keith?”

“Y/N…” Your father tried to placate you, rather than deny the accusation, which only had the effect of enraging you further.

“I can’t believe the two of you! You _deliberately_ had Keith expelled, when he was clearly the best pilot the Garrison had ever seen, because you were scared that I was getting too close to him? That I was actually going to become friends with him?”

“You have to understand our position…” your mother started.

“I understand you _perfectly_ , Mom,” you hissed. “You had my entire life mapped out for me from the moment I was born, and my partnership with Keith did not feature anywhere in that. You had it all planned; I was supposed to fly with James and spend the rest of my life with him, and create a new dynasty for the Garrison, and the two of you were going to bask in the accolades.”

You shook with barely suppressed rage. “And you saw that I absolutely could not work with James, despite our friendship, because he refused to listen to anybody else’s advice because he was so much better than everybody else; and you hated the fact that the one cadet you couldn’t control was the _only_ one that I could work with effectively. Keith and I trusted each other – and _only_ each other – whenever we flew together, and so you had to make sure that he would never be in a position to actually become someone who is important to me.”

Your father held his hands out to try and soothe you. “Y/N, calm down.”  
  
“No, Dad, I will _not_ calm down. I am _livid_ that you are still trying to control my life! Because in the end, all of your scheming and manipulation amounted to nothing. I became something, some _one_ of importance in my own right, and you and Mom had no hand in it. And instead of ending up with James, I’m life-bonded to Keith. And even if I _wasn’t_ life-bonded to him, I would _still_ choose Keith, because everything we’ve been through in the time we’ve been away has shown me exactly the kind of man he is. And he is the man I am going to spend the rest of my life with, because I love him more than anything in the world.”

Your father’s face paled, and your mother looked as if she was about to faint. “What did you just say?”  
  
“Oh, yeah. Remember in cadet training, when you tried to force me to partner with James, and I told you I’d rather be life-bonded to Keith?” Your expression grew smug. “Guess the universe listened to me more than you two ever did.”

**************************************

You stormed into Keith’s quarters on the deck where new recruits and non-Garrison personnel were stationed. “I’m sorry, why are you bunking two floors down from me? Why the heck are you _here_ , in what is basically a broom closet, when I have an entire apartment to myself?”

Keith shrugged, watching with some confusion as you grabbed his clothes and shoved them unceremoniously into his bag. “I was informed in no uncertain terms that there was no room up on the Officers’ deck.”

You snorted. “Every other member of Team Voltron is up on that floor. No way are you staying down here by yourself.”  
  
You grabbed Keith’s bag, hurriedly shoving his belongings into it, and headed out of his room in high dudgeon. He scurried after you, trying to halt your progress. “Y/N, where are you going?”

“ _We_ are going back up to _our_ apartment.”

Keith gave you a look. “I’m not really sure your parents are going to look too kindly on that, seeing as how they made it _very_ clear that I was to stay as far away from you as possible.”

“Keith, my beloved, I haven’t done a single thing that my parents have wanted me to do since I was fourteen years old. Why would I start now? Besides, if my parents think they can pretend our life-bond doesn’t exist by keeping you away from me, they can think again.” You continued walking, ignoring the gawking stares of the latest batch of cadets as you swept imperiously past them, nose in the air.

“Exactly why do you have an apartment to yourself when your parents reside here?” Keith asked, his head tilted to the side quizzically.

“I insisted on moving out as soon as I was officially a cadet. I needed a space of my own so that I could at least pretend that I was out from under their thumb. Commander Iverson and Shiro backed me, so they reluctantly agreed. But of course, because of who I am, I couldn’t just slum it with the rest of the noobs, so I was put up in the Officers’ quarters.” You continued marching through the hallways of the Garrison, the dark look on your face causing less experienced recruits to scamper out of your way in fright.

Keith hurried after you as you headed back to the rooms that you had occupied when you were a cadet. “Y/N, what is going on? Why are you so annoyed?”

He could feel your seething anger through the life-bond. Never before had he felt such rage emanating from you, even when fighting against the Galra; it frightened him more than just a little.

You were too incensed to speak until you were safely back in your suite. You threw Keith’s bag on the bed, and then grabbed him in a fierce hug, making him glad that you weren’t as strong as Hunk; he was sure you would have cracked several ribs otherwise. You were sobbing vehemently, the violence of your emotions causing him no small amount of alarm.

“Babe, look at me. What happened to upset you so much?”

“It’s all my fault,” you sobbed into his chest.

Keith rubbed your back softly, trying to soothe you. “What’s your fault? You haven’t been back long enough to have done anything.”

“Your expulsion from the Academy. It was all my fault.” You continued to cling to him as if he were going to be snatched away from you at any moment.

Keith looked bewildered. “I’m not sure I understand. How is it _your_ fault that I got kicked out of the Garrison for a lack of discipline?”  
  
You sniffed. “Because that was just an excuse, Keith. They were looking for a way to get rid of you.”  
  
“Who?”

“My parents,” you hissed. “They were the ones who demanded that Iverson have you expelled.”  
  
His bafflement increased. “Why would they do that?”  
  
“Because you upset their plans. They had my entire life mapped out for me. I got pushed into being a navigator, even though I always dreamed of being a mechanic, because they had dreams of me joining Shiro on missions. They cut corners for me and demanded that the other instructors make sure I pass, regardless of whether my grades were good enough or not, because they didn’t want the embarrassment of their daughter possibly flunking out. Luckily, I worked hard enough that I could pass everything on my own without the need for their ‘assistance’. Then, once I graduated, I was supposed to become a dynamic duo with James, fall madly in love with him because he was the Chosen One, and make lots of new little recruits for the Garrison.”

You sniffed again, pulling away from him to look into his eyes. “Then _you_ showed up, and turned everything upside down. You outflew everyone from your first day here; you only ever listened to Shiro; and you were the only cadet pilot to actually ever trust my instincts as much as your own. You, the hot-headed rebel loner, suddenly were the only person to successfully partner the Garrison princess. You, an upstart orphan nobody from Hicksville, Nowhere, were the only cadet I actually enjoyed flying with. I stood up for you when nobody else did. I respected you. I was actually starting to _like_ you, and that was absolutely not allowed.”

Keith listened to you in silence while you vented your hurt and frustration at your parent’s interference in your life. “I ruined everything they had planned because of my attitude towards you, Keith. So, my parents made sure they destroyed any chance you had of succeeding, because they were terrified that you were beginning to have some sort of influence over me. You never would have been kicked out if it hadn’t been for me. It’s all my fault. I’m so sorry.”

You began crying again, and Keith wrapped his arms around you, letting his love for you wash over you through the life-bond. “Sweetheart, it’s not your fault. I didn’t exactly make things easy for everyone around here when I was a cadet. The fact that I disobeyed practically every command given to me since the day I got here would have been enough to boot me from the Garrison. Don’t for one second think I would ever blame you for what happened.”

“They got rid of you so that you could never be a part of my life,” you whispered.

Keith snorted. “Yeah, well, that sort of backfired on them, didn’t it? All it did was cause you to help me rescue Shiro from quarantine, find out you were life-bonded to me, and spend the past few years saving the universe together. We ended up being a pretty significant part of each other’s lives anyway.”

“Yeah, I guess,” you said, wiping your tears with the back of your hand.

Keith cradled your face in his hands, pressing a tender kiss to your lips. “Y/N, I love you. I’m pretty sure I knew I loved you from the moment you helped me steal Shiro’s car when we were kids. Life-bond or not, I’m positive that we would have ended up where we are now regardless, because of everything that we have gone through together. I love you, to the moon and back, and that will never change.”

You stared into those beautiful violet-grey eyes, filled with nothing but love and desire for you. You kissed him again, more passionately this time, hoping he felt as much love from you as you did from him. “To the moon and back, Keith.”

Nuzzling your nose with his, he smiled seductively. “Now, how about I take you to the stars, sweetheart?”

“I’m all yours, Flyboy,” you whispered against his lips.

You forgot about everything else as Keith made you feel as if you were the only two people in the world.

**************************************

There was a knock on your apartment door.

“Hang on!” you yelled, tying a knot in the sash of your robe. You opened the door to find yourself face-to-face with the boy – well, young man, really - that your parents had hoped you would end up with. The cadet you had attempted to date before dashing off for your space adventures with Lance and the others. “James! What are you doing here?”

“Y/N, I just wanted to see that you were settling back in okay. It’s been a while, so I thought it might be weird being back in your old rooms.” His eyes glinted as he noted that you were dressed far more casually than when you’d arrived.

“I’ll admit it feels a bit strange seeing it still exactly the same as when I left it,” you replied carefully. It was obvious that your parents had left your rooms the same – even the framed recruitment poster of Shiro, which Keith had doubled over with laughter at seeing when he realised that you had made Shiro ‘autograph’ it, still occupied pride of place in your living room - in the hopes that you would eventually return. “I assume you’re still bunked across the hall?”

“Indeed I am. It’s good to have you back, neighbour. I’ve really missed you.” He smiled at you fondly. “You’re just as lovely as I remember. Even more so.”

Oh, dear. Obviously he still harboured hopes for the two of you. You’d have to let him down gently. “That’s very sweet of you to say so, James. But…”

“I was just wondering if you’d like to take a walk with me, so that we can catch up on everything that’s happened since you’ve been away. I’ve really missed you, and I’d love to hear about everything that’s happened to you.”

Smiling gently, you replied, “Thank you for the offer to catch up, but I’m actually quite exhausted from all the travelling we’ve done recently. I’d really appreciate the opportunity to rest a bit longer before the debriefing with Admiral Sanda and the other leaders. I’m sure you understand.”

Noting his expression turn sour, you continued quickly. “Why don’t we take a walk after the debrief? We’ll have much more time, and I can tell you all about my adventures then.”

Before James could respond, another voice was heard.

“Hey, babe, this Damage Repair shampoo of yours. Do you know if it works on emotions as well?” Keith paused in the doorway, suddenly realising that you had company.

James’s right eye started twitching when he noticed Keith saunter out of your bedroom, towel around his bare shoulders, sweatpants slung low on his hips. James said in a neutral tone, “I’m sorry, Y/N, I didn’t realise that you had someone here.”

“Oh, yeah. Keith was originally bunking two floors down with the noobs, which is obviously unacceptable given that the rest of Team Voltron is up here on the Officers’ deck. And I’m lucky enough to have a spare room, so I offered to let him stay with me.”

It wasn’t _technically_ a lie; you just didn’t really feel the need to enlighten James of the true nature of your relationship with Keith at this exact moment. He’d find out soon enough anyway. You just hoped that you could let him down gently, before he heard it from someone else. Maybe when you walked together after the debrief…

“Keith,” James said in a strangled whisper. He regained some semblance of composure. “It’s been a while. I hardly recognise you.”

“Oh, hey Griffin. Yeah, spending several years in space defending the entire universe from alien invasion will make you grow as a person. Did you need something in particular? Because Y/N and I are kind of in the middle of something.” Keith smirked suggestively as he slung a possessive arm around your shoulders.

_‘Keith! Behave!’_

_‘Make me.’_

James clenched his jaw. “I’m not really sure your behaviour is appropriate, given that Y/N is the daughter of two of the Garrison’s most highly decorated and respected leaders, and you’re just… just…”

“Just the guy who’s life-bonded to her?” Keith retorted, raising an eyebrow.

_Quiznak._ So much for letting him down gently.

James looked at you, the hurt in his eyes evident. “Life-bonded?”  
  
With a sigh, you nodded. “Yes. We found out not long after we rescued Shiro and discovered the Lions.”

Collecting himself, James stood straighter. “I see. Well, I’ll just take my leave, then. I’m sorry to have intruded.”

He turned to leave, but not before you saw the crestfallen expression on his face as he looked at you once more.  
  
“James…” You reached for his hand, making him pause. “I’m sorry. I promise, I was going to tell you...”  
  
He just looked at you blankly. “Debrief will be after dinner. 1900 hours.”

Removing his hand from your grasp, he left your quarters.

“Was it something I said?” Keith asked innocently.


	7. Resistance Is Futile. So Naturally, We Will Resist

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Still stung by the role your parents played in Keith’s expulsion from the Garrison five years earlier, the two of you help Hunk in his attempts to rescue his parents from the Galra work camp. You received assistance from an unexpected source.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Takes place during the second half of Series 7 Episode 9 “Know Your Enemy”

You joined Shiro and the others in the control room, where Admiral Sanda and other senior officers, including your parents, were listening to the debrief. The members of Team Voltron, including the Alteans, were now dressed in the traditional orange Cadet uniform – Shiro, however, had donned his officer’s uniform – and all of you sat opposite the Garrison officers. You kept your eyes firmly on the large projection screen, refusing to even acknowledge your parents, though they stared at you the entire time. You ignored your mother’s frown as you sat next to Keith.

Commander Holt highlighted several areas on the holomap. “Sendak’s forces remain at bay, but without a meaningful supply line, we’re slowly being suffocated.”

“No one else is putting up a fight against Sendak?” Shiro asked in disbelief.

Lance’s older sister, Veronica, replied. “Small underground pockets of resistance have attempted to do so, with varying degrees of success. Eventually, all were discovered and systematically wiped out. Earth’s defensive capabilities simply don’t stand a chance against the Galra.”

Hunk’s friendly face was full of concern. “Why don’t we bring more people into this base?”

“We had to put a halt on our extraction ops as they were proving to be too risky,” Commander Holt told him.

“But there are good people out there. They could be protected,” Hunk pleaded. “My family’s out there!”

“I’m sorry, Hunk.”

“But if we have an opportunity now to…”

Hunk’s objection was cut short by Griffin, who was still apparently smarting from his recent interaction with yourself and Keith. “Hey! Do Paladins not understand the chain of command? Your CO said it was too dangerous!”

“Officer Griffin, that’s enough.” Sam Holt’s voice was stern. He turned his sympathetic gaze once more towards Hunk. “Believe me, I know what you’re going through, Hunk. We all have family out there, but we have to weigh our options. We can’t lose ten people to save twelve. I’m sorry.”

You wrapped an arm around Hunk’s shoulders. Softly, you said, “I’m sure they’re doing everything they can to get your family back, Hunk.”

Allura stood, hoping to ward off any further unpleasantness. “Well, then, let’s find out what we _can_ do. You said you’ve integrated Altean tech with Earth weaponry.”

Sam nodded, and led the team out of the control room.

**************************************

The team headed to the workshop, several stories underground. As the elevator descended to the floor, you found yourselves looking at several elegant looking fighters.

“The Mecha-Flex Exo-Fighters, or MFE’s, are extremely agile with advanced weaponry,” Sam Holt explained proudly. “But they’re only capable of short-range attacks. Sustaining power with Altean-infused technology is an issue we’re trying to overcome.”

“Maybe I can help you out with that,” Coran offered. “I _do_ have some leftover Phonitonium. It’s an Altean fuel additive, but it also has some unexpected side effects, so… don’t get any on you.”

Sam blinked several times, uncertain whether Coran was joking, before leading the rest of you out of the elevator. He stopped in front of a large battleship, the likes of which the Garrison had never seen before. It was the largest ship you had seen, apart from the Galra warships, and you wondered who had come up with the design. It was simply breathtaking.

Commander Holt gestured at the ship. “This is our battleship. It’s large enough to house all of the Lions _and_ an entire command unit.”

“It’s built but it can’t fly,” Admiral Sanda said sourly. “Everyone, there’s a subject we can’t avoid any longer. Sendak attacked Earth because he wanted the Lions. And now they’re here! It seems that we need to at least discuss our options.”

You snorted indelicately. Typical. The Admiral wanted to roll over and give the enemy exactly what they wanted, in the vain hope that they would leave again. But this was Sendak you were dealing with. You and the others knew that even if Sendak took hold of the Lions, he wouldn’t stop until he had destroyed Earth completely.

Shiro seemed to have reached the same conclusion. “Are you suggesting that we _willingly_ hand over the Lions to the Galra?”

Admiral Sanda glared at him, ignoring the hostile expressions that your entire team directed at her. “Our supplies are gone. We spent all our resources on a ship that doesn’t fly. The weapons we _do_ have are not enough to mount an attack. All we can do is protect a small pocket of Earth, but for how much longer?”

The Admiral was still weak, and you were reminded yet again of why you had so little respect for her. It had been yet another bone of contention between yourself and your parents.

“The universe needs the Lions!” Commander Holt objected.

“So does Earth. They’re our only bargaining chip,” Sanda argued.

“I agree with the Admiral,” said your father. Of course he did. You snorted again, not bothering to hide your disgust. “Earth has been nearly destroyed. Countless citizens have been lost. But it could all be over if we give up the Lions.”

Commander Iverson shook his head. “We have a fighting chance now that the Lions have returned. We need to take it.”

“I’ll settle this argument right now,” Allura said coolly, staring at the Garrison officers before her. “We’re not giving up the Lions under any circumstances. There is _no_ negotiating with Sendak.”

“Maybe you should leave the matters of Earth to the people who live here,” the Admiral snarled at her.

“We’ve actually had numerous dealings with Sendak,” you retorted. “We know _exactly_ how he operates. We’re more qualified to decide how to deal with him than anyone else here!”

“Please, Admiral,” Shiro said placatingly. “I respect that you will do anything you can to protect Earth. But trust us. We’ve been through more than you could ever imagine. We have fought the Galra on the fringes of the universe, and in their very home! I know there’s a way to defeat Sendak.”

“How?” demanded the Admiral. “We barely know what we’re up against. We need intelligence and we just don’t have it.”

“Maybe we do,” contradicted Allura. She turned to Sam. “That information you downloaded from the Castle of Lions contained Sendak’s memories.”

He frowned. “How does that help?”

“It might give us some insight into Sendak’s plan,” Pidge said uncertainly, before suddenly grinning at the princess. “Allura, you’re a genius!”

Commander Holt turned to the other officers. “We just need some time.”

Grudgingly, the Admiral granted it, and your father led Pidge, Allura and Mrs Holt to the databanks where the information was held. You hoped that they would be able to sift through Sendak’s memories and obtain the information necessary to defeat him.

**************************************

You and Keith were passing the kitchen on your way back to your rooms when you heard a groan of disgust. Pausing in the doorway, you noticed Hunk bending over the sink, wiping his face.

“Is everything okay in here?” Keith asked.

“Yeah,” Hunk replied unconvincingly, wiping muck off his face with a dish cloth.

“Okay,” Keith said, turning to leave. He stopped when you placed a hand on his arm. “What?”

You gestured to Hunk with your head. _‘Say something.’_

_‘What are you talking about, Y/N?’_ he thought at you irritably.

Rolling your eyes, you thought back, _‘Hunk is clearly upset about the situation with his parents. Just… I don’t know, let him know we’re here for him if he needs us.’_

_‘Why do I have to be the one to talk to him?’_ Keith protested.

_‘Because you’re our fearless leader, that’s why. Besides, it will mean more coming from you than from me. It’s exactly the sort of thing he’d expect me to say, so it will take him by surprise if you’re the one to tell him.’_

With a shrug, Keith turned back to the team’s engineer. He leaned against the doorframe of the kitchen, arms crossed, a frown of concentration on his face as he tried to think of comforting words for the Yellow Paladin. “Look, I’m not really good at talking with people and I… I don’t expect you to open up to me, but if there’s ever anything on your mind…”

Hunk clenched his fists, his voice angrier than you had ever heard him. “This situation stinks! I can’t…”

His shoulders shook for a moment, before he turned and glared at Keith. “I can’t believe we finally get back to Earth and it’s taken over by Galra!”

“I guess there _is_ something on your mind,” Keith deadpanned. He walked towards Hunk, with you close behind.

“I know… I know it’s stupid, but I used to daydream about coming home to a peaceful Earth,” Hunk continued, his eyes filled with tears. “And that would have been great. But I realise that nothing, _nothing_ would have been greater than seeing my family.”

He sobbed. “But I can’t. And all I keep thinking about is that I wasn’t there for them. I don’t even know if they’re okay. And I see Pidge and Lance with their families… I mean, I’m happy for them! I am. But it… it just makes me miss my family more.”

You rubbed his back gently. “I’m so sorry you’re going through this, Hunk.”

“I just… I’ve never felt so alone and scared,” Hunk whispered, as if ashamed of once again feeling less than courageous.

Keith’s expression grew sombre. “Look, Hunk… I never told you this, but… of all the Paladins, you’re the one I’m most impressed by.”

Hunk stared at him quizzically, even as you tried to figure out where Keith was going with this.

Keith continued. “It’s no secret that you’ve always been the most scared, but you’ve never backed down. _Never._ And to be brave is to go on in spite of fear. And that’s who you are, Hunk. I know you’re scared but your family… they need you to be strong right now.”

Hunk didn’t say anything after Keith’s speech. He just grabbed him in a fierce bear hug, lifting him off the ground and crushing him in gratitude for his encouraging words.

“Okay,” Keith wheezed, trying to breathe. “All right, we’re hugging.”

You expression softened as Keith returned Hunk’s embrace with a smile on his face. _‘Have I ever mentioned that you are an awesome leader?’_

_‘Not nearly enough,’_ he grinned at you over Hunk’s shoulder.

_‘Keith Kogane, you are an amazing individual, and I am proud to know you.’_ Keith’s blushed at your praise.

“Thank you, Keith,” Hunk said softly, before dropping Keith as quickly as he’d embraced him. Without another word, he left the kitchen, leaving you and Keith staring after him.

“Where are you going?” you asked.

“I’m going to get my family,” Hunk replied.

Keith grinned at him. “Not without us.”

**************************************

The three of you, now dressed in your Paladin armour, made your way as stealthily as possible to the hangar housing the transport vehicles. Making sure the coast was clear, you ran for the closest one. Before you could enter it, however, a bright light shone on you.

All of you turned to look behind you, blinking in the glare of the light. Standing on the wheel of another vehicle, its spotlight aimed at you, was James Griffin. Lance’s sister Veronica stood nearby.

Griffin asked, rather sardonically, “You three heading somewhere?”

“This doesn’t concern either of you,” Keith told him.

“No,” admitted Veronica. “But you’ll probably be concerned with the patrol drones that will spot you within seconds.”

Griffin jumped down from the vehicle, a cocky grin on his face. “And you might be concerned with the blast from Sendak’s automated low-orbit long-range blaster satellite that takes you out.”

Hunk scowled at the two of them. “What’s your problem?”

“My problem is, I don’t want to see our only hope for saving Earth get hurt,” James replied shortly, arms crossed in front of his chest. His eyes flicked to you briefly, before the grin returned. “That’s why we’re coming with you.”

You threw Griffin a grateful smile, and he winked at you, causing Keith to involuntarily step closer to you. You rolled your eyes. Now you understood how he’d felt whenever you’d acted so possessive of him when he was in Acxa’s presence.

**************************************

Your binoculars were trained on the Galra sentries below. They seemed to be everywhere.

When one of the pairs of sentries had gone past, Veronica broke cover, making her way to the doorway of the building in which the prisoners were being housed. She looked up at the rooftop where you were located, giving the thumbs up that all was good to go.

“She did it. The signal’s sent,” you advised the others.

Hunk grabbed the binoculars from you, eager to be the first to see his family when they finally escaped from the clutches of the Galra. “Okay, now what?”

Griffin lowered his sniper rifle. “Now we wait.”

**************************************

Griffin and Veronica were hanging below the grate covering the manhole, as you, Keith and Hunk waited on the gangway below. There was a brief moment of concern when a pair of sentries passed directly over the grate, but as they didn’t look at the ground below them, the moment passed.

A few seconds later, a light shone into the grate, and a weary face peered down at you. A gruff voice said, “Come with me. Quickly.”

You did as instructed, following the older man to the top floor of an abandoned skyscraper. He turned on a light, and you saw diagrams and maps covering the walls and table in the centre of the room. A small computer was plugged in.

“Amazing. The rumours were true.” The man grinned. “Word of the Paladins’ return has inspired the Resistance.”

“Thank you for your help,” Hunk said to him. “Tell the Resistance we’re gonna get rid of the Galra.”

“Words we’ve waited a long time to hear,” the man replied.

Veronica looked out the window. “Is this where they’ve taken all the prisoners?”

Looking down over the city, you saw what appeared to be an enormous mine cut out of the ground below. Huge Galra structures were scattered throughout, cranes and vehicles moving about.

“What are they doing down there?” asked Keith.

“They have work camps operating day and night, mining ore for Sendak,” the man told him bitterly. “It’s been non-stop for months. He’s buildin’ somethin’, but no one is sure what.”

Veronica frowned. “I thought the labour force was outside the encampment.”

“They were, but they’ve been moved in.”

“What does that mean?” Hunk queried.

Veronica looked at him apologetically. “It means, we can’t get you to your parents.”

“No,” he begged. “No, please…”

“Believe me, if there was a way, we would do it,” Veronica said.

Hunk lifted his head. “Can I at least see them from here?”

Veronica nodded, and Keith trained the binoculars on the encampment below. After several minutes, he muttered, “I see movement. It looks like the workers are exiting.”

He handed the binoculars to Hunk, who searched for familiar faces. Eventually, he gasped, “That’s them! My mom, my dad… Don’t worry, you just need to hang on a little longer. We’re gonna get you out.”

He lowered the binoculars as tears blurred his vision. “ _I’m_ going to get you out,” he vowed.

You and Keith each put a hand on Hunk’s shoulders, reminding him that he wasn’t alone.


	8. Today on Dr Phil... Congratulations, You're a Traitor!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Paladins work with the Garrison pilots on a mission that could provide more clues about how to take down Sendak’s operation. You, Keith and James work together in the attempt to take down a Galra facility – with a little help from Kosmo the Space Wolf.
> 
> The revelation of a betrayal shakes the Paladins, who are separated from their Lions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter combines the events of Series 7 Episode 10 “Heart of the Lion”and Episode 11 “Trial by Fire”

The team stood anxiously outside the operating theatre, watching as the medical team finished up their work. Pidge pressed her face up to the glass. Lance chewed his nails, a nervous habit he had never managed to break. Keith had his arms crossed over his chest, and you stood beside him, hands clasped in front of you. Allura and Hunk hovered nearby, hoping the signs would be favourable.

Eventually, Shiro opened his eyes, and the room slowly swam into focus. He saw Commander Holt staring down at him.

“How are you feeling, Shiro?” Sam asked.

Shiro blinked again. He whispered groggily, “Good. I’m good.”

“I’m happy to tell you we’ve successfully attached your new prosthetic arm,” advised Sam. “We just need to power it on and make any final adjustments.”

The Garrison medical engineers had designed new prosthetics for injured pilots, based on the Altean technology that Sam had brought back to Earth, and they were eager to find out if the designs would integrate successfully with Earth technology. Unsurprisingly, Shiro had immediately volunteered to be the first recipient of the new prosthetics.

“We’ve outfitted it with the most powerful energy source Earth has to offer,” Sam continued as the technician powered up the prosthetic limb. “It’s the closest we could get to mimicking a Balmera crystal’s energy. It should generate enough power to operate most of it. The remaining power will be drawn from your body’s own electromagnetic field.”

Shiro glanced down at the metal arm on the table next to him. It looked much sleeker than the one the Galra had forced upon him. The design was reminiscent of the new MFE fighters.

The technician powered up the prosthetic, and both the limb and the socket on Shiro’s arm began to glow with a soft yellow light. Shiro concentrated, the prosthetic hand clenched into a fist. A soft smile graced Shiro’s features. It worked.

Without warning, it glitched and he screamed in agony.

“He’s crashing!” cried Commander Holt. “We have to shut it down!”

Before the medical team could act, the prosthetic struck out at them, sending them crashing to the floor.

Keith and Lance were preparing to barge into the operating theatre when Allura appeared to notice something. Closing her eyes, she concentrated, and the crystal in her headpiece began to glow.

Wordlessly, she ripped the crystal from the headpiece, throwing the metal circlet on the floor as she ran into the medical bay. She grabbed the prosthetic, wrestling it to the ground. “Sam, we need to remove the power source!”

Sam immediately complied, opening up the circuitry and removing a small micro chip. Allura dropped the crystal in its place, and the limb became docile once more. It floated softly back to the metal table upon which it had rested, and Shiro’s heartbeat returned to normal.

Keith led the rest of you into the room, anxious to see that Shiro was alright.

Slowly, he opened his eyes. “What happened? I… I feel… strange.”

The prosthetic clenched into a fist, and Shiro smiled. “I feel… great.”

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

**************************************

The team was gathered in the board room, ready for another debrief. As had become the custom, Team Voltron sat on the opposite side of the massive table to the Garrison crew, with Admiral Sanda at the head of the desk.

Pidge and Allura were addressing everyone.

“We’ve learned so much from Sendak’s memories,” Pidge announced. “We discovered his methods for taking over planets like Earth.”

Allura took over. “Sendak constructs armaments at key strategic points around planets. This gives him the ability to control enormous swathes of territory. He uses the armaments as deterrents to prevent any uprisings, and to control the captive population.”

Veronica tapped the datapad in front of her. “Based on data from Commander Holt’s micro-satellites, cross-referenced with Resistance intel, we’ve ascertained that Sendak built six massive structures on Earth. We never knew what they were being used for. Until now.”

“They’re the weapons?” Hunk asked, looking at the schematics for the unfamiliar structures. “So what’s stopping us from blowing them up?”

“We simply don’t have enough firepower to do the job,” Admiral Sanda responded. “And even if we did, there’s a good chance those facilities contain civilians. We can’t just go in blind.”

Shiro spoke. “Admiral Sanda’s right. That’s why we should infiltrate a base and gather intelligence first.”

“The nearest base is fifty-two clicks south of our position,” Veronica informed him.

“What’s the terrain like?”

Veronica tapped on her datapad, bringing up the information on the large screen so everyone could view it. “The region around what we’ll call Base One is a complex urban environment. Our route will take us through highly patrolled areas. It’ll be hard to keep proper surveillance of our surroundings due to all the structural damage.”

“Then I suggest we form two teams,” Shiro directed. “A ground unit that will attempt to infiltrate Base One and get eyes on whatever’s inside, and a sniper team that observes from a higher position, covering the ground unit and providing some visibility.”

“Use communications sparingly,” Veronica instructed. “Stay on the move. Keep an eye on the timing patterns of the patrol drones. Pidge, Keith, Y/N, Allura and Griffin – you’re the ground unit. Hunk, Kinkade, Lance and I will be sniper support.”

The teams nodded, and headed out of the debrief to prepare yourselves for the mission.

**************************************

“Approaching target location,” Keith advised Hunk as the ground team prepared to enter the base. The engineer was monitoring the transmissions and radiation signatures of the buildings nearby, to ensure that you remained undetected as long as possible.

“Copy that, Ground Unit,” Veronica confirmed as she spotted you approaching the base. “We’ve got eyes on you.”

Griffin drove inside, and you exited the vehicle in order to proceed on foot. Keith led everyone to a staircase situated above a water main, and he summoned his Bayard into its katana form as he led you down. For some reason that had yet to be explained to Griffin’s satisfaction, Keith had deemed it necessary to bring Kosmo, and the wolf followed close behind him. Griffin brought up the rear, sniper rifle at the ready.

“Drone patrol ahead,” Lance warned, spotting the radiation signatures of the Galra drones in the corridor leading towards you.

Everyone paused until the drones had passed, then ran as quickly as possible across the walkway to the other side of the facility. You trudged through what felt like an endless network of sewers, climbing up rusty ladders and clambering over rubble.

Eventually, you found yourselves staring at the enormous structure before you. Several sentries were posted at the entry.

“This is as close as we’re gonna get,” Keith whispered, as the team hid behind rusty cars and debris from fallen buildings. “Pidge and I are going in.”  
  
“Negative,” Griffin objected. “Route’s obstructed. It’s too well guarded.”

“Lance, you ready to cover us when we get inside?” Keith asked the Blue Paladin, ignoring Griffin. You laid a gentle hand on Griffin’s arm when you noticed him scowling at Keith’s apparent disobedience, cautioning him with a look to just wait and see what Keith had planned before he began yelling at your partner.

“Ready to go,” Lance confirmed.

Keith and Pidge grabbed a handful of Kosmo’s fur, and they vanished. James blinked several times, staring open-mouthed at the spot where the pair had been just seconds before.

“It’s a cosmic wolf,” you told him gently, as if that was all the explanation that was necessary.

He grinned. “I’ve got to get me one of those.”

**************************************

Keith and Pidge proceeded cautiously through the hallways of the Galra structure.

“We need to find a port where I can hack in,” Pidge said. “A control panel or substation.”

Keith nodded. “Got it.”

He led Pidge down the corridor, and Lance advised that he was scanning ahead of them for hostiles. There were sentries on the other side of the east wall, and as they approached Kosmo teleported them past the sentries, thus allowing them to escape detection.

Once Lance confirmed that they were clear, he instructed them to take the right tunnel. Before they could move, however, sentries approached from both tunnels. Kosmo once more teleported them out of sight just as the sentries reached them, and they reappeared in the right tunnel, watching with relief as the sentries marched away from them. The space-wolf was proving to be extremely handy on this mission.

**************************************

Kinkade warned you, Allura and Griffin that drones were approaching your position from the adjacent alley to where you were hidden. You ducked down behind the broken concrete slab, but one of the drones turned in your direction. 

“We’ve been spotted!” you whisper-yelled.

“Hang tight,” Kinkade told you, firing three shots in rapid succession and destroying the drones before they could alert the Galra to your presence.

Unfortunately, the exploding drones attracted the attention of the sentries that were patrolling on foot nearby, and they began firing in your direction.

“I think you guys made them angry,” Griffin deadpanned.

The five sentries moved towards where the three of you were hiding, firing at you as they approached. However, Lance and Kinkade took them out easily.

Allura smiled up in the direction where Lance and the others were keeping guard. “Thanks,” she said.

“No problem,” Lance replied. He blushed furiously when his sister noted that Allura was very pretty, but before he could reply the princess spoke again, this time with a note of urgency in her voice.

“Lance! Kinkade! More sentries incoming!”

**************************************

Pidge made a series of incomprehensible gestures, pulling a face and then giving Keith the thumbs up signal. He frowned at her in confusion for a second, before grinning and disappearing with Kosmo.

If Pidge wanted to cause a distraction, then he would let her cause a distraction.

Pidge danced wildly as the sentries approached, taunting them with her antics. They aimed their rifles at her, but she disappeared before they could fire. They turned as the door behind them opened, and they fired at Keith where he stood in the doorway, just as he disappeared with Kosmo.

Before the sentries could realise what was happening, Keith reappeared directly above them, slashing at them with his katana so that they fell to the floor, silent.

Pidge cackled with glee as she and Keith ran towards the control panel located in the heart of the facility. She managed to hack into the Galra system and began downloading the intel while Keith kept watch.

He stared at the gigantic structure. “What _is_ this?”

Pidge finished downloading the information and gulped as she realised what the schematics meant. “It’s a Zaiforge cannon.”

_“What?!”_ It was much larger than the Zaiforge cannons that the team had previously encountered. This one looked as if it was big enough to destroy an entire planet on its own.

“Each base must be building one,” Pidge surmised.

This was not good.

**************************************

You, Allura and Griffin were pinned down, trapped behind the piece of concrete where you had sought cover. The Galra drones and sentries fired at you continuously, preventing you from leaving your shelter.

Lance and Kinkade kept firing upon the drones, taking them out as quickly as they appeared.

Hunk realised that sentries were climbing the stairs to where the sniper team was hidden, and took them out with his cannon. “Cover is definitely blown, guys!”

“Keith, Pidge, it’s time to roll,” Lance said.

“Copy that,” confirmed Keith.

Lance called to his sister. “Veronica, detonate the chaff!”

She pressed the detonator, and several explosions occurred throughout the rubble below. The resulting debris interfered with the heat sensors of the Galra sentries, allowing both teams several precious seconds to move undetected.

“Rendezvous at your cruisers,” Veronica ordered. “We only have a couple of minutes until the sentries gain vision again.”

Kosmo popped up behind you, and Keith said, “Let’s move out.”

All of you ran as quickly as possible to the cruisers, and drove back to the safety of the Garrison. The Garrison leaders needed to hear what the Galra were planning as a matter of urgency.

**************************************

“Sendak has built Zaiforge cannons,” Pidge reported to the Garrison officers. She brought up the schematics on the big screen, highlighting the size of the cannons. “Our intel indicates the cannons were just completed. They could launch at any time.”

Commander Iverson asked gruffly, “What exactly is a Zaiforge cannon?”

“Planet killers,” you replied. “If these cannons launch and are fully charged, Sendak will be able to destroy Earth in seconds.”

“So what do we do?” one of the MFE pilots – Nadia Rizavi, you recognised – wanted to know.

“Ideally, we attack all six bases at once, allowing them no time to stage a counterattack,” Keith said.

“That’s not possible,” Admiral Sanda told him flatly.

“If we had our Lions, it could be,” Keith countered. “We’ll have to find another way to retrieve them since the ship we rode in on crashed.”

The Admiral snarled, “Your Lions are orbiting another planet! There’s no way to get you to them. Plus, there are only five Lions.”

“The MFE’s would need to attack the sixth cannon,” Shiro advised.

“We’d love to, but they don’t have that kind of range,” James pointed out.

Coran rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “There should be enough Phonitonium to get the MFE’s to the sixth base and back.”

“That’s great and all, but Admiral Sanda has a point,” Pidge interjected. “We can’t get to our Lions.”

Everyone slumped in defeat. Hunk let out a mournful groan.

“You don’t need to go to them. They’ll come to you.” Shiro stood and looked at each of you in turn. “As Paladins of Voltron, you can connect with your Lions. They _will_ come.”

Hunk looked doubtful. “From Saturn?”

“From anywhere,” Shiro said confidently. “You’ve been training for this since the very beginning. Each of you has forged a bond with your Lion. Tap into it.”

“Our Lions _did_ come to us when we were lost in space,” Lance reminded everyone.

“And Red saved my life numerous times,” Keith added with a wry grin, leaving unspoken the fact that Red usually only came to the rescue when it looked like he was about to die.

“Yes, it’s possible,” murmured Allura. She smiled broadly. “So we’ll call the Lions to meet us here.”

“We’ll need the element of surprise,” you told the others.

Pidge nodded. “The Lions will have to rendezvous with us at the bases.”

“Yeah, that will really catch the Galra off guard,” Hunk muttered. “I mean, assuming our Lions respond to our calls. What if they don’t come?”

“They’ll come,” Shiro told him confidently. “And when they do, you will strike and destroy all six cannons simultaneously before they can be launched. And when the job’s done, you can form Voltron and finish off Sendak and the rest of his forces.”

Griffin grinned. “My pilots can transport five of you to the Galra bases before heading out to the sixth cannon.”

“I’ll bring Lance to Base One,” Veronica said. “It’s the closest, so I can do it by ground.”

Shiro nodded. “It’s settled then. While Veronica drops Lance at Base One, the MFE’s will each fly a Paladin out to a base. The Paladins should reach the drop zones at exactly the same time as the Lions arrive. Then the MFE’s will head to the sixth base. We’ll launch a coordinated attack on all six bases at once.”

With that, the Paladins and MFE pilots moved to the hangar, ready to begin.

**************************************

You ran a hand over the MFE jet, admiring its smooth lines. You felt a presence behind you, and turned to see James Griffin standing there, watching you curiously.

With a blush, you said, “Sorry. I just… this is quite possibly the most elegant machine I’ve ever seen.”

“Yeah, Commander Holt really outdid himself with these,” James replied.

“How does it handle?”

He grinned, an expression that was becoming his default more often than not. “Like a dream. It’s almost… instinctive. It seems to know what I want to do even before I think it. I’ve never flown anything like it.”

“James…” you said hesitantly. “I’m really sorry. About… well, everything. I promise you, I had no idea before we left Earth that I was life-bonded to Keith. If I’d known, I never would have…”

Griffin held up a hand to stop you. “It’s fine. At least now I understand why things never felt quite right with us, no matter how hard we tried.” He paused, then added, “Keith actually apologised for the way he told me about the two of you. Apparently, you yelled at him about it for fifteen minutes without taking a breath.”

“That’s a complete exaggeration,” you said. “I only yelled at him for three minutes. It probably just felt like fifteen.”

“It must have been a shock to find out that you were life-bonded to him,” James ventured. “Considering how much you two seemed to loathe each other.”

You grimaced. “We both reacted rather… um… _violently_ when we found out. Neither of us was thrilled at the prospect of being stuck with each other forever.”

James chuckled. “You two always did _everything_ violently. I’m surprised neither of you ended up in the medbay as a result of your arguments.” He paused, before adding, “You seem to get along pretty well now, though.”

“Yeah,” you admitted. “It took us a really long time to get there, but now I can’t imagine what I’d do without him. Keith is everything I never knew I wanted.”

The two of you stared awkwardly at each other for a moment, before you once again ran a hand over the MFE. You turned to your former flame with a shy smile.

“I’m glad that you’re the one leading this team,” you told him. “You deserve it. I’m really proud of you, James.”

“Thanks, Y/N. That means a lot.” He smiled at you, and you startled him by pulling him close for a hug. He returned it eagerly, pleased that your friendship was still intact, even if his hopes of a future with you were not.

James pulled away almost guiltily as he heard footsteps approaching, and nodded briefly at Keith before hastily climbing aboard the MFE. Keith quirked an eyebrow at you, and you shrugged.

_‘Should I be jealous?’_ Keith teased.

_‘Only about the fact that Griffin gets to fly this gorgeous piece of machinery and we don’t,’_ you replied.

You climbed aboard the MFE, and Keith followed close behind. Griffin closed the cockpit hatch, and headed out towards the base that the two of you were to infiltrate. Hunk was travelling with Ina Leifsdottir to the desert base of Africa; Kinkade was taking Allura towards the mountains in Asia, and Pidge was with Rizavi as she flew towards the South American jungle.

As the MFE’s headed towards their destinations, Shiro’s voice was heard over the comms. “Paladins, our window of opportunity is razor thin. With the element of surprise, we’ll have the advantage. Good luck.”

You and Keith closed your eyes and pushed out with your minds, trying to connect with the Black Lion. The other Paladins did likewise, hoping to contact the Lions in time to strike the Galra before they could retaliate.

You felt the Black Lion awaken, and it roared as it stood up. The other Lions responded with roars of their own, and the Lions left Saturn and headed towards Earth.

Except for one.

Lance continued to try to reach out for Red, when the transport Veronica was driving was hit. Several Galra fighter jets fired upon the transport.

“We’ve been spotted!” Lance cried.

Veronica drove erratically, attempting to avoid the laser fire, as Lance tried desperately to connect with Red.

The rest of you boarded your Lions and prepared to attack the bases as planned.

**************************************

Commander Iverson said, “Four of the five Paladins have reached their drop zones. We’re just waiting on Lance.”

“Lance, where are you?” Shiro called anxiously. “Can you hear me?”

The only response was a muffled scream, then Lance’s comms went dead.

“Lance!” Allura cried, and the rest of you called out for your team mate.

“Lance, can you hear us?”

“Lance, where are you buddy?”

Keith’s voice grew strident. “Lance! Lance, come in!”

The only response was muffled yells and the sound of gunfire. Just when you thought that Lance had been captured – or worse – a loud roar was heard in the background. Finally, you heard the words that you had been waiting to hear.

“Red Lion, checking in!”

_‘Of course Red waited until the last possible minute to join us,’_ you thought irritably as you let out the breath you hadn’t even realised you were holding. Why did the stupid cat always wait until its Paladin was about to die before it decided to pounce into action?

_‘That stubborn cat is going to get a severe lecture when we get back,’_ Keith promised.

The Paladins begin attacking their bases, using the Lions’ mouth and tail cannons to begin to destroy the bases and the cannons lying within, when suddenly all were attacked by Galra warships. Fleets of them appeared over each base, and each Paladin was suddenly under heavy attack.

“Something’s wrong!” cried Allura.

“These aren’t normal base defences!” Lance added.

Griffin’s voice was heard as the MFE’s were also attacked. “Keith, what do we do?”

“Do what you have to!” Keith ordered. “We can’t let those cannons launch!”

He flew the Black Lion towards the base, avoiding the heavy fire as best he could.

“There’s too many!” you cried, trying to defend yourselves with Black’s tail cannon even as Keith attempted to avoid the Galra fighters. “It’s like they knew we were coming!”

Keith’s attention was drawn to the base below, noting with dismay that the cannons were preparing to launch. “Focus on the Zaiforge cannons! Stop them from launching!”

Griffin growled, “Base Six is launching!”

“I can’t get near Base One’s cannon!” Lance advised.

Allura and Hunk were also unable to stop the launch of the cannons from their bases.

“How did this happen?” Pidge demanded, watching with consternation as the Zaiforge cannon in front of her also launched.

“Sendak must have known we were coming,” Keith realised.

“But how? Who would have betrayed us like that?” you shrieked, trying to think of who could have possibly handed you over to the enemy.

The cannons were launched, with the Paladins unable to stop them.

“We were too late!” cried Allura with dismay. “The cannons have launched and we’re exposed! Sendak knows we’re here with our Lions!”

Lance hissed in frustration. “What do we do now?”

“MFE’s, return to the Garrison,” Keith ordered. Griffin and his team confirmed, and flew back to the safety of the Garrison.

Keith contacted the Lions. “Paladins, we need to cut the head off the snake. Taking out Sendak is our last option. Everyone, converge!”

The Lions flew towards Earth’s atmosphere, attempting to reach the cannons before they could be fully charged. As they neared each other, Keith gave the order.

“Form Voltron!”

The six Zaiforge cannons fired simultaneously, their beams hitting the orbital reflectors and converging to a single point, ready to hit Earth.

The robot defender flew towards the centre of the ring of Zaiforge cannons, absorbing the blast fired simultaneously from all six cannons in the hope that you could prevent them from striking Earth and completely obliterating your world.

Every Paladin groaned with the effort of keeping Voltron together, the giant beams that could destroy an entire planet almost proving too much for the robot. Finally, the pressure proved too much. The resulting blast split the Lions apart, and they drifted listlessly through space.

Earth had been saved, but the same couldn’t be said for the Paladins.

The lead Galra warship activated its tractor beam, drawing all five Lions and their unconscious Paladins towards it.

**************************************

Keith hit the ground with a thud, and he grunted as his eyes slowly opened. He heard a familiar voice, but surely he was dreaming. It couldn’t really be…

“I delivered you the Lions, as you requested,” said Admiral Sanda. “Now it’s time you uphold your end of the bargain.”

Keith couldn’t believe his eyes. It really _was_ the Admiral, standing here in the belly of a Galra warship, trying to negotiate with Sendak. The betrayal of the Garrison’s leader made him furious beyond belief. No wonder you had never trusted her.

He flicked his eyes to the unconscious forms of the other Paladins, coming to rest upon your pale face. He couldn’t move, even if he’d wanted to.

The Admiral continued speaking. “Hand over the Paladins to me and leave Earth.”

Sendak seemed to stare straight at Keith as he replied calmly, “That won’t be happening.”

“We made a deal!” Admiral Sanda was taken aback by Sendak’s refusal to honour their agreement.

“Throw her in the brig with the Paladins,” Sendak ordered, and the sentries complied immediately, ignoring the Admiral’s protests as they dragged her away.

Sendak turned to his underlings. “Continue assault, and move the Zaiforge cannons into position.”

Keith blinked, and everything again turned dark.

**************************************

Keith sat up painfully, grunting with the exertion. He found himself in a small cell, alone. He didn’t have you with him. None of the Paladins were with him. Were you all right? Were you… alive?

He walked to the door of his cell, banging on it with both fists. “Hello? Y/N? Lance? Hunk! Pidge! Allura!”

No response. He reached out tentatively with his mind, almost sagging with relief when he felt your presence. It was faint, and you seemed to be barely conscious, but at least you were safe. For now.

Keith reached out again, clenching his fist in frustration as nothing happened. “My Bayard’s not working!”

Suddenly, a voice sounded from the cell next to him. “I’m here,” said Lance weakly.

“Yeah, me too,” Hunk called from a couple of doors down. “How long we been out?”

“It looks like we’ve lost about an hour.” Pidge was okay as well.

“Is that all? I thought for sure you’d say three days.” Keith nearly wept with relief when he heard your voice, faint but sarcastic as ever, from the other side of his cell.

Allura’s voice asked softly, “What happened?”

Keith slid down the wall of his cell, sitting back on the floor. “We’re on Sendak’s ship. Admiral Sanda… she sold us out.”

“How could she?” Pidge hissed.

“He said he’d leave Earth if he had the Lions, but he lied to me.” The Admiral’s voice was barely audible. “This is all my fault. I wanted to protect my people, but now I’ve doomed them. I’ve doomed them all. I’m so sorry.”

“You’re sorry?” You were suddenly full of strength, the anger you felt at the Garrison leader’s betrayal pushing everything else aside. “You’re _sorry?_ What, you think some lame apology makes up for what you’ve done to us? To the citizens of Earth?”

“Y/N…” Keith’s voice held a warning tone which you ignored.

“You didn’t want to save Earth, you just wanted to save yourself. We _warned_ you that Sendak was not to be trusted, that there was no negotiating with him, but of course you knew better, didn’t you? My parents trusted you! We all did! You’re no leader. You’re nothing but a coward.”

“Y/N, that’s enough!” Keith barked.

You ended your tirade with a hiccupping sob, and the other Paladins stayed silent as your stormy tears sounded throughout the cells. Each of them agreed wholeheartedly with your words, though none of them felt brave enough to say them out loud.

The violence of your outburst had taken the Admiral by surprise, but she could not bring herself to muster a defence. She had done the indefensible, and you were right to call her to account.

“Admiral, what is Sendak’s plan?” Keith asked, hoping that the Admiral would see reason, and help to rectify her mistake.

“Sendak is… moving the Zaiforge cannons into position,” she responded tonelessly. “He’s going to destroy Earth. Please, you must know, I wanted to save Earth!”

Keith couldn’t bring himself to say the words the Admiral wanted to hear. She had done the unforgivable. He could not condone her actions, and he would not lie just to extinguish her guilt.

**************************************

The warship shook as an enormous blast was heard.

“What was that?” asked Lance with no small amount of alarm.

“The Garrison is mounting a counterattack!” Keith said.

You heard the pride in Pidge’s voice. “My dad… he launched the Atlas!”

Keith frowned as the ship continued to be hit. “We need to get out there! The Atlas can’t win this fight alone!”

“Guys, I have a thought,” Hunk offered. “Remember how we were able to call the Lions to us on Earth? Well, why can’t we do that now? They might be able to break us out.”

“Calling the Lions to us and having the Lions break us out are two totally different things,” you pointed out.

Hunk huffed. “I’m not saying it’ll be easy. I’m not even saying that it’s possible. But we have to at least be willing to try. Think of our families. Think of Earth.”

“Shiro said we’re capable of more than we realise. Maybe it’s worth a shot.” Taking a deep breath, Keith lifted his head. “Paladins, close your eyes. Connect with your Lions.”

Each of you did as Keith requested, reaching out again to your Lions.

Surprisingly, it was Hunk who made the connection first. Perhaps the strength of his own words gave him the conviction he needed to make the link with the Yellow Lion.

Slowly but surely, the other Lions connected with each of you in turn. Their roars gave you hope that you could reach Shiro and the others in time to prevent the complete destruction of Earth.

The Lions tore out of the docking bay of the warship, and you could see through their eyes as they surveyed the firefight before them.

The Green Lion spotted the Atlas, and the Blue Lion followed shortly thereafter.

Allura cried, “They’re under heavy fire! They need our help!”

“Lions, on me!” Keith ordered, and the Lions fell in behind Black.

The five Lions flew to the aid of the Atlas, destroying the Galra fleet as they flew between the ships.

“Paladins, welcome to the fight!” Shiro called out happily. “Let’s go take out Sendak’s cruiser.”

“Wait!” Pidge yelled urgently. “We’re still on that ship! Well, our bodies are…”

The Atlas crew listened in stunned silence, until Shiro grinned when he realised what had happened. All of you had made the mental connection with the Lions, and they were now doing what you commanded of them telepathically.

“Amazing. We got ourselves some breathing room,” Shiro said. “Let’s make it count.”

**************************************

Admiral Sanda fired upon the Galra sentries. She had tricked them into letting her out of the cell, claiming to know of a weakness in the Atlas that would render it useless. Once the door to her cell had been opened, she had grabbed the pulse rifle from the sentry and began firing upon the Galra as she attempted to escape.

Sendak’s minion, Hepta, grinned. “You’ve backed yourself into a corner. Now you’ll die, along with the Paladins.”

The Admiral gave a cry as she was hit.

Hepta smirked down at her, his own pulse rifle aimed at her head. The Admiral painfully pulled herself up to a sitting position. She would not give him the satisfaction of slaying her whilst she lay helpless. No, she would die standing upright, like any good Garrison soldier.

Before Hepta could fire, however, he was sucked out of the ship through the sudden hole that was punched into its side by the Black Lion.

Keith opened his eyes to find that Black had sliced the door of his cell with its jaw blade, and had done the same for you. The two of you ran out of your cells, but before you could embrace one another you heard a weak groan behind you.

The other Paladins crawled out of their cells as you and Keith ran to the Admiral, who lay on the ground. Her breathing was shallow, and there was a gaping wound in her stomach. Keith lifted her gently, ignoring the look you gave him. You both knew all too well what a stomach wound of that size meant. “Admiral…”

Admiral Sanda stared into Keith’s eyes as she spoke in a whisper. “Do… what I couldn’t. Save… Earth.”

The rest of you bowed your heads as the Admiral closed her eyes with her final breath.

Keith lowered her gently, before standing straight and tall. With determination in his voice, he nodded at the fallen Admiral.

“We will,” he promised.


	9. Things Finally Go Right, Until They Inevitably Go Horribly, Horribly Wrong

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As a massive battle rages on, Shiro makes a risky attempt to bring down Sendak on his own.
> 
> With Earth’s fate hanging in the balance, the members of the Voltron Coalition face a mysterious enemy which is unlike anything they’ve encountered so far. 
> 
> The Paladins make a decision which may spell the end of Voltron.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place during the events of Series 7 Episode 12 “Lion’s Pride Part 1” and Episode 13 “Lion’s Pride Part 2”

Voltron stood proudly atop the Atlas as it headed into Earth’s upper atmosphere.

“Welcome back to the fight, Paladins,” Shiro called from the bridge of the Atlas.

“It’s good to be back. You know, in our bodies,” Hunk laughed.

Yes, it was indeed good to be physically back in the Lions. Connecting with them telepathically had been critical in coming to the aid of the Atlas in its hour of need, but you had all felt the rush of relief when the Lions returned to Sendak’s ship to retrieve you.

Shiro contacted Griffin and his team. “MFE pilots, what’s your status?”

“Power’s dropping,” Griffin replied tersely.

“Return to the Atlas and recharge,” Shiro told them.

“Copy that. We’re on our way.”

The MFE’s wheeled into the docking bay of the Atlas. Griffin removed his helmet and spoke to one of the mechanics. “The manifold on the left flaxum assembly felt loose. See if you can tighten that down.”

“You know, you _are_ allowed to say please occasionally,” you contacted your friend as he sat in the cockpit. “Otherwise people are just going to think that you’re bossy.”

“Look who’s talking,” he retorted playfully. “You wrote the handbook for bossy behaviour.”

You suddenly turned serious. “Stay safe out there, okay, James? All of you.”

“You too, Y/N.” James called down to the engineers again. “All right, let’s get these fighters charged and ready to go!”

**************************************

The Atlas was coming under fire from a fleet of Galra fighters which had launched from the nearest Galra warship. Voltron, however, made short work of them, firing with the Lions’ mouth cannons so that the entire fleet was soon ablaze.

“Form sword!” Keith barked. Voltron sliced through the ion cannon of another warship, before using Hunk’s shoulder cannon to take out the rest of them.

“Coran!” called Shiro. “Adjust our heading to narrow our surface area for incoming attack! Commander Holt, what’s the status of the Zaiforge cannons?”  
  
Sam’s voice was strained. “According to their projected trajectories, they’ve started moving together. But their convergent point is…”

A gasp was heard, and Shiro waited for Sam to continue. “Sam? Sam, what is it?”

“I know what Sendak is doing,” said Commander Holt. “He’s going to converge the beams to make one amplified emission of particle radiation.”

“Is that even possible?” Shiro asked in disbelief.

“Yes. I know because I gave them the technology,” Sam admitted. “When I was enslaved, the Galra had me working on particle emission amplification. I’m sending you the Zaiforge cannon’s movements.”

The data was sent to the Atlas and MFE’s as well as the Lions. “This is a simulation I’ve run based on their current trajectory. It leads to a single point in space.”

You and Keith stared at the data, horrified at what Commander Holt was predicting. His voice continued. “Once they’re in position, their individual beams will merge together, exponentially increasing their destructive force. It will be powerful enough to completely vaporise Earth.”

“We can’t let that happen!” Hunk cried. “What do we do?”

Allura asked, “Should we go after the Zaiforge cannons? The Lions might not be able to defeat them all in time.”

“If even _two_ of those beams connect, they have the power to destroy Earth!” Sam told everyone.

Keith’s scowl deepened. “We know they’re being controlled by Sendak. Let’s take him out!”

He pushed the throttle forward, and Voltron started to fly towards the Galra general’s ship, when a sudden beam hit it from behind. It was powerful enough to knock Voltron off course, and Keith turned the robot around to try and pinpoint where the beam had come from.

“What the heck was that?” asked Lance indignantly.

Another beam headed towards Voltron from Earth, and Voltron skipped out of the way. However, the beam hit one of the orbital reflectors and directed the beam back towards Voltron.

“We’re under attack from one of those bases that launched the Zaiforge cannons!” you realised.

“They must have been designed to defend the cannons after they launched!” Pidge added.

Keith yelled, “Shield!” and Voltron immediately brought up its shield to defend from the next beam. However, the beam pushed Voltron into the path of another Galra warship, which immediately fired upon you.

“We’re being attacked from all angles!” cried Pidge.

“Should we fall back?” queried Hunk, even though he had a fair idea of what the answer would be.

Surprisingly, it was Lance who responded. “No! We’re too close to retreat.”

“We can’t take any more shots from those ground-based cannons,” Pidge advised.

“Get in close to their own cruisers,” Keith suggested. “They won’t fire on their own ships.”

You raised a sceptical eyebrow. “Are you sure about that? I mean, we _have_ seen Galra-on-Galra violence before.”

“I don’t really have a better idea right now!” your team leader admitted.

Voltron flew towards the closest warship, avoiding its laser fire. Unfortunately, Keith’s assertion that the Galra would not fire upon their own troops proved incorrect, as the Earth-based cannon fired directly upon the cruiser, obliterating it in front of your eyes.

“Sendak’s destroying his own ships to get to us!” Allura said, her voice full of outrage.

Keith was thankful that you didn’t say “I told you so.”

**************************************

More Galra cruisers fired upon Voltron from all sides, hemming you in. As Voltron tried to flee, it was hit front-on by another beam from Earth. You were pinned down by the cruisers and Galra fighter jets surrounding you, and the Atlas crew were unable to come to your aid.

“Griffin, what’s your team’s status?” Shiro asked.

“The MFE’s are nearly charged,” he replied. “Whatever’s powering the Atlas is incredible!”

“We need you back in the fight,” Shiro told him. “Head to the coordinates I’m sending you and take out those surface-to-air cannons!”

“Yes, Sir!”

**************************************

“Shiro, the Zaiforge cannons are almost in position,” advised Sam. “By my calculations, we’re not going to get to Sendak in time.”

Shiro contacted Voltron. “Paladins, you have to stop your attack.”

“What?” Keith cried in an outraged tone.

“Abort your attack!” Shiro repeated. “Or Earth will be destroyed.”

“What’s going on?” demanded Lance as Voltron evaded another laser beam.

“The Atlas will continue to attack Sendak while the MFE’s attempt to take out the ground cannons,” Shiro said. “But just in case that doesn’t work, we’ll need you to stop the Zaiforge cannons directly.”

“How are we going to stop all these cannons?” you asked. “I’m not sure a Lion could take one down on its own.”

“We just have to think,” muttered Keith. “Is there any way we could block the beams?”

Pidge answered, “We would be annihilated.”

Hunk’s face appeared on the vid-screens. “Hey, what about those reflective plates they used to curve the beam around Earth?”

Pidge considered it. “They _could_ deflect the beams _and_ keep them from merging…”

“Okay, it’s the best plan we’ve got so far,” Keith agreed. “Let’s go!”

“These plates are pretty far apart,” Pidge noted. “I’m sending the flight paths I calculated with the fastest possible routes.”

She sent the calculations to everyone. “Keith and Lance, you’ll take the furthest plates. After you get your plate, head to the indicated cannon on the course I’ve sent you.”

“Got it,” replied Keith, as the Black and Red Lions headed to the plates Pidge had given them.

You heard Griffin advise that Base One had been destroyed. One down, five to go.

Black butted up against the plate, and Keith groaned as he pushed the throttle forward. “Come on, come on!”

The plate slowly moved out of alignment. You contacted the Atlas. “How much time do we have?”

“Two minutes, fifteen seconds and counting,” replied Commander Holt.

“It’s gonna be tight,” Pidge muttered as she pushed the Green Lion as fast as it would go.

The Atlas’s particle barrier engaged just as another cruiser fired. Shiro asked, “How much time before the Zaiforge cannons fire?”

Sam’s voice was tense. “Any second now!”

“We’re almost in position!” Keith advised, as the Lions slowly moved the plates towards the Zaiforge cannons.

To your horror, the cannons began charging just as you were about to reach them. If the orbital reflectors weren’t in the correct position, the Lions would be decimated, and Earth along with them.

The cannons fired, and five of the beams reflected away from Earth as the Lions successfully held the reflective panels in place.

**************************************

Sam Holt studied the vid-screen. “The Lions have the plates in position, but those plates were designed to reflect a short burst. They won’t hold for long under the pressure of a sustained blast.”

“Then we need to take out Sendak now,” Shiro decided.

“But we can’t get through the cruiser blockade he’s created,” pointed out Coran, as the Atlas was hit by another blast.

“Then we need a new plan,” said Shiro. “Sam, what if someone were to infiltrate Sendak’s ship and gain access to its crystal? Could the cannons be disrupted?”

“Infiltrate Sendak’s ship?” repeated Sam, wondering if he had heard Shiro correctly.

“Would it work?” Shiro asked.

“It _could_ work,” admitted Sam grudgingly. “But you’d need a communication device to link to the Atlas so we could hack their system.”

Shiro nodded. “Then that’s what we’ll do. I’m going in. Coran, the ship is yours. Get the Atlas to the impact site. We need to be prepared for every outcome.”

The Altean advisor looked surprised at Shiro placing him in charge, but readily agreed as Shiro made his preparations to infiltrate Sendak’s ship.

**************************************

The Lions continued to hold the reflective panels in place, but the continuous fire from the Zaiforge cannons caused them to start buckling under the pressure.

“Argh! They’re gonna rupture soon!” Hunk groaned. “We don’t have much longer!”

“Keep holding, team,” Keith urged the others. “We can do this!”

You contacted Shiro, hoping that the plates would hold out long enough for the MFE’s to complete their mission. “Atlas, what’s happening?”

To your surprise, it was Coran who answered. “Hold a little longer. We have a plan.”

“Whatever it is, we’re running out of time!” Keith told him, as yet another crack appeared in the plate that Black was holding in position.

“Atlas, I’ve arrived at Sendak’s command ship,” you heard Shiro advise.

“What?” you cried in alarm, just as the plate that the Black Lion was holding exploded.

The other orbital reflectors also exploded under the pressure of sustained fire from the Zaiforge cannons, causing the Lions to tumble backwards from the force of the blasts.

**************************************

The beams from all six Zaiforge cannons converged, forming one gigantic beam, which then headed back towards Earth.

However, the Atlas had moved into position, its particle barrier intercepting the beam and absorbing the impact.

Griffin and the other MFE pilots continued their assault on the ground bases, destroying them so that they could not defend the Zaiforge cannons.

Coran tried contacting each of the Paladins, but had no success. He contacted Shiro in a panic. “Shiro, I can’t reach the Paladins and the Atlas can’t hold this beam much longer! Whatever you’re going to do, can you do it _now_?”

**************************************

Somehow, Commander Holt had managed to hack into Sendak’s system, overriding it and overloading one of the ports, causing it to explode. That disabled the beam generator and shut down the power in the cruiser.

One of the cannons shut down as a result, which bought the Atlas crew some time. However, the particle barrier was losing power, and if it didn’t hold then the Atlas would be destroyed.

Veronica cried out. “Lance!”

**************************************

Lance blinked. He could have sworn he’d heard his sister calling him. He lifted his head painfully, trying to figure out what was going on.

He swore as he realised that the beams from the Zaiforge cannons had converged, and the single enormous beam was battering at the Atlas.

Lance punched Red’s throttle, and the Lion sped towards the nearest cannon. He activated the mouth and tail cannons, slicing the Zaiforge cannon in half before speeding towards the next.

The rest of you slowly roused, and, noticing what the Blue Paladin was doing, raced your own Lions to help him. The Lions attacked with everything they had. Vines, jaw blades, ice and heat rays. Whatever they had, they used, until each cannon had been destroyed.

Veronica’s voice was overjoyed as she confirmed that the Lions had taken out every Zaiforge cannon.

Griffin contacted the Atlas and advised that the MFE’s had successfully neutralised every Galra ground base.

That left only Sendak’s ship, which was freefalling towards Earth’s surface.

With Shiro still aboard.

**************************************

“Sendak’s ship is gonna crash into Earth!” yelled Pidge.

“We have to guide it to an uninhabited area!” Keith cried. “Follow me!”

The Lions raced towards the stricken vessel, hoping that you could prevent it from creating even more civilian casualties.

As you got closer to the cruiser, you noticed two forms on the ship’s ion cannon. Shiro and Sendak were fighting hand-to-hand, and it seemed that the sadistic Galra had the advantage.

The Lions flew under the nose of the ship, lifting it until it was horizontal. They turned towards the desert, struggling to keep the ship airborne.

“Hold it together!” Keith urged. “We gotta make it past the city!”

The Lions managed to bring the warship down in a desert ravine, far from the Garrison.

**************************************

The dust cleared, and Shiro blinked. He was lying on the ground, and before he could move, Sendak appeared, standing above him with a sadistic grin.

“Victory, or death,” the warlord told him, preparing to strike.

A roar was heard from behind him, and as Sendak turned, Keith leapt from the Black Lion’s jaw. His Bayard had transformed into the katana, and with a snarl of rage he struck at the sadistic Galra who had caused everyone so much suffering. The blade sliced through Sendak before he had time to react.

Keith gained the victory with Sendak’s death.

Keith raced to Shiro’s side as you landed the Black Lion, and you ran down the gangway as he helped your former team leader sit up.

Shiro smiled weakly. “Thank you.”

The three of you smiled at each other, before turning your smiles towards the other Paladins, whose Lions now hovered above you.

“We did it!” Pidge whooped.

Hunk’s cheer echoed hers. “Earth is safe!”

As you and Keith helped Shiro to his feet, the smiles fell from your faces as you heard an explosion in the sky above you. A meteor raced towards the surface in a fiery ball, landing far too close for your liking.

This could not be good.

**************************************

Everyone stared in horror at the meteor racing towards the Earth’s surface.

“No!” cried Allura with dismay.

“Paladins, brace for impact!” Keith shouted. “Hunk, help me with Shiro!”

The Yellow Paladin raced to Keith’s aid, carrying the fallen Shiro as the meteor collided with the ground. The Black Lion turned to protect you from the impact, but Hunk and Shiro were blown backwards. Luckily, they were caught by the Yellow Lion, as the other Lions joined you on the ground.

There, surrounded by a purple orb of energy, you saw that it wasn’t a meteor, but rather what looked like a giant mech-warrior that had crashed to Earth. It reminded you somewhat of Prince Lotor’s Sincline mech, although this was more angular and not as elegant looking. It held a large axe-type weapon in one hand, the blade glinting viciously in the light.

“Why is it always giant killer robots?” you muttered sourly as you and Keith boarded the Black Lion.

Keith said, “Hunk, get Shiro to the Atlas. We’ll cover you.”

“Got it!”

The mech raised its other hand and fired several bursts at the Lions, which all dodged out of the way. The mech continued to fire, the pulses much more rapid than anything you’d encountered to date.

Keith yelled with frustration even as he fired at the mech, hoping to get a clean shot with Black’s mouth cannon. However, the mech began to spin its blade in a rapid circle, effectively blocking every shot.

“That energy spectrum completely deflected our attack!” Allura cried.

Hunk confirmed that Shiro was safely aboard the Atlas, and flew the Yellow Lion back to the rest of you. Each Lion summoned their jaw blade and headed towards the mech, intending to strike a critical blow, but the mech was too agile. It seemed able to anticipate your moves before you made them, as it effectively blocked every attack, and swung its blade at the Black Lion, knocking it to the ground.

It then turned to attack Blue, Red and Green in quick succession, each of them being flung aside as if they were nothing but annoying insects.

While it was distracted, the Black Lion sprung at its back, but the mech turned and fired a massive beam of energy from both hands, which pushed Black back and knocked it on its side, rendering it useless.

As the mech prepared to strike while you were down, Red and Yellow fired upon it with their mouth cannons.

“Keith! Y/N!” called Lance. “We got you covered. Get out of there!”

“Anyone have any idea where this thing came from?” Hunk gritted out as the Black Lion escaped the mech’s clutches.

“No clue!” answered Pidge.

The mech fired burst after burst at the Lions, essentially using them for target practice, whereas the Lions could barely get a hit on it. It was beyond aggravating.

“We just defeated an entire Galra armada, and now this!” Your tone was offended.

Keith sounded weary as he wiped the sweat from his brow. “Paladins, I know we’re all in bad shape. But we have strength together. This is Earth. This is our home. We’re going to defend it.”

“And we’ll be by your side!” You had never been so happy to hear Coran’s voice. The Atlas flew towards the fight, firing from all cannons at the latest abomination to attack you.

“Good to have you back, Atlas!” Allura replied, almost cheerfully.

The mech fired at the Atlas just as it activated its particle barrier, and to everyone’s astonishment, the blast completely dissipated the particle barrier. As it lined up for a second shot at the Atlas, the Lions fired their mouth cannons at the mech, diverting its attention for a few precious seconds.

“Atlas! We need you to hold the beast back temporarily so we have time to form Voltron!” ordered Keith. “It’s the only way we’re gonna beat this thing.”

“Affirmative,” Coran replied.

“Paladins, let’s finish this fight!” The Black Lion led the others in formation as the Atlas fired at the mech with everything it had.

The mech turned and fired at the Atlas, attempting once more to get through the particle barrier. The Atlas temporarily brought its shields down to fire from its port-side cannons, and the mech seized the opportunity to attack.

Before it could strike, however, it was hit by a powerful blast and sent hurtling to the ground.

“Thanks for covering for us, Atlas,” Keith said, as Voltron stood protectively in front of the Atlas.

Shiro, who had returned to the bridge of the Atlas, gave the orders. “Coran, take us back up to covering position. Iverson, once those cannons come back online we’ll need to give Voltron some support.”

Voltron stood opposite the mech. You watched as it extended its blade to nearly three times its original length, before breaking it in half to form two scimitars. Again, you were reminded of Lotor’s Sincline ship.

“Guys, my Bayard port just opened,” Lance said.

“Mine, too,” Pidge noted.

Together, they punched their Bayards into their consoles and brought Voltron’s hands together. Instead of the usual long sword, however, Voltron now wielded two scimitars, just as its opponent did. It seemed that the robot defender could summon new weapons as necessary, depending on the situation.

The giant mech rushed towards Voltron, and the two of them locked blades together, neither gaining an advantage over the other. First Voltron was pushed back; now the mech was being beaten. Lance swung at the mech with a backhanded strike, which was blocked. The mech then swung heavily, causing one of Voltron’s blades to be tossed aside.

The robot lost its balance and fell backward, and the mech leapt high into the air, ready to take advantage of this opportunity. Just as it was about to strike with both blades, Pidge managed to bring the shield up in time. But the force of the blow split the shield in half, and the mech hit Voltron in the chest, causing a burst of crackling energy to surround you. Everyone screamed in agony as the lightning coursed through them. Voltron was driven to its knees, and the mech appeared to be draining the very Quintessence from it.

Shiro barked, “Launch fighters!”

The MFE’s flew towards Voltron. Griffin contacted you. “We’re coming in. Covering fire!”

The four talented young pilots dodged and swooped on the mech, firing from every angle and flying out of range at alarming speed.

The distraction allowed Pidge to activate her Bayard once more, and the Green Lion summoned a large cannon, which none of you had seen before. The cannon sent out an enormous blast towards the centre of the mech, sending it flying backwards.

Voltron fell to its knees, and each of you felt as weary as the robot defender.

“Paladins, what happened?” Shiro’s voice was urgent. “Are you okay?”

“Those blades, they sapped our energy,” Hunk replied.

“It felt like the Komar,” you added weakly, remembering the fights with Haggar and her Druids.

The MFE’s continued their attack, even as the mech got to its feet once more. It returned fire as they continued to evade, trying to give you time to get Voltron back on its feet.

Keith groaned. “Pilots, fall back. Those blasts can vaporise you.”

“Keith’s right,” agreed Shiro. “You’ve successfully drawn its fire. Rendezvous with the Atlas ASAP!”

“Roger that,” Griffin confirmed.

The Atlas fired its main cannon at the mech’s chest just as it prepared to strike Voltron, who was still kneeling on the ground. The mech was sent backwards yet again. Unfortunately, the blast didn’t fell it, and it threw one of its blades back towards the Atlas. The blade struck the particle barrier, disintegrating it.

The blade returned to the mech, and it crossed both blades in front of it. Its chest began to glow, and a ball of black energy formed where they joined. It pulsed for a moment, and then an enormous burst of black lightning was sent towards the Atlas, striking the large ship head on.

You watched helplessly as the mech fired another blast of black energy towards the Atlas.

“The power this creature is generating is unheard of,” whispered Pidge. “My surge indicators are spiking every time it’s about to fire. That sickle absorbed our Quintessence. It’s using our own energy to power its attack.”

“Like the Komar,” you said again. You didn’t know how, but you were positive that Haggar was behind this latest monstrosity. Somehow, somewhere, the witch was still alive.

“Then we’ll have to avoid direct contact,” Keith said. “Everyone up!”

Voltron struggled to its feet, and Lance and Pidge once more summoned its enormous twin blades. You flew towards the beast, who noted your movement and began to charge the black energy again.

Voltron managed to avoid the blast, and swung both blades towards the mech’s head simultaneously. It blocked, retaliating with its own blades as Voltron ducked out of the way. However, one of the mech’s hands connected with Voltron’s jaw, punching you backwards. You came to a halt near the edge of the base.

“Guys, we need to be careful!” Hunk reminded everyone. “There are innocent lives down there!”

“Then let’s take the fight to the sky!” Keith growled, pushing the thrusters forward.

Voltron flew into the upper atmosphere, the mech close behind. Both robots slashed and hacked at each other, their blades ringing as they struck time and again.

As Voltron again lost a blade, Keith yelled, “Pidge! The cannon!”

The Green Lion fired at the mech, pushing it backwards again. Several blasts went wide, and one of them struck the Atlas. The large ship began to fall back towards Earth, and Pidge gave a cry of alarm.

Her distraction allowed the mech to strike Voltron, its blade hitting the robot square in the chest. It pushed you back towards Earth, draining the Quintessence from the Lions as it did so. Voltron hit the Earth with a loud thud, laying helpless as the mech stood above it. It was pinned down by the twin blades, and you could feel your energy being drained.

**************************************

Eventually, the mech stood triumphant, as the light faded from Voltron’s eyes. The mech began charging its chest beam again, aiming at the Atlas. The black beam hit the ship head on, destroying its shields completely.

Shiro stared in wonder as the reality of what was happening faded away. He didn’t hear the chaos on the bridge, or hear the urgent orders of Iverson as he barked at the crew. He saw only the vision of the Atlas’s true potential, and he realised what he needed to do.

Snapping back to the present, Shiro said, “Bring us back up. Set coordinates for upper atmosphere.”  
  
“But Voltron…” Coran began to object.

Shiro ignored him. “Commander Holt, I need all the power we’ve got.”

“Copy that,” Sam said, even as the Atlas began its ascent to the upper atmosphere.

Shiro focused his attention inward, his consciousness joining together with the cosmic diamond which had been formed with the destruction of the Castle of Lions, and which now powered the Atlas. The entire ship began to glow as the crystal’s energy seeped through every system, culminating in a single point in front of Shiro.

“Atlas crew, hold tight!” Shiro called.

The entire crew watched in awe as the ship began its transformation into a gigantic mech, many times larger than Voltron and the Galra mech below. It appeared that Sam Holt had created his own version of Voltron without even realising it.

**************************************

Grunting with the effort, Keith forced himself into a sitting position. “Everyone, report in.”

You groaned, wincing as you sat up. “I… I’m all right. I think.”

“Ugh. I can barely move,” Hunk responded.

Pidge’s soft voice was heard next. “Voltron’s power levels are depleted.”

“We’ve never seen anything this powerful before,” Allura said mournfully.

Lance’s attention was captured by movement. “Guys…”

The mech was once again striding towards you. It looked up as an enormous shadow fell over it, and the most enormous mech you had ever seen came crashing down on top of it. This mech dwarfed everything you had ever seen in your entire life. It was even bigger than the Atlas.

The Galra mech had managed to avoid being crushed by the new mech, but it was having difficulty evading the large boulders that were being hurled at it. The giant mech blasted its cannon, and the smaller mech flew out of its line of fire.

Lance gaped at the new mech. “Is that the _Atlas?”_

You looked at the mech, noting the name IGF-Atlas emblazoned on the side. It really was the Atlas. It had to be nearly a hundred times bigger than Voltron.

“Paladins, are you there? What’s your status?” Shiro’s voice had never sounded so lovely.

“We’re here,” Keith told him. “How did you…?”

“I’m not exactly sure,” Shiro admitted. “We’ve got you covered.”

“Hostile returning for another pass!” Veronica reported.

Shiro called to Iverson, “Get me eyes on the target!”

The enemy fired its black energy at the Atlas, who held up one enormous hand and absorbed the blast.

The mech flew towards the Atlas with both blades drawn, and the Atlas swung at it with one arm. Alarmingly, the mech projected the black-energy onto itself, growing to the size of the Atlas and striking, before the energy dissipated and it returned to its normal size.

It flew away again, and the Atlas took another swipe at it. The giant mech, however, was much more clumsy, and the smaller mech once again used its black energy to grow in size before striking at the Atlas.

As the Atlas was on its knees, the alien mech returned to its usual size and then latched onto the back of the Atlas. Its scimitars sunk into the Atlas, and it began to drain the Quintessence from the ship.

Voltron got unsteadily to its feet, all of you watching as the mech seemed about to defeat the Atlas.

“We have to do something!” Lance wheezed, still trying to get his breath back. “It’s gonna destroy the Atlas!”

The mech flew off the Atlas, opening up its chest and summoning the black energy again.

Your eyes widened in realisation of what you were seeing. “That’s it. It’s the only place on that thing that isn’t armoured.”

Keith seemed to have reached the same conclusion. “We have to strike there right before it fires!”

Allura’s voice was full of doubt. “That’s a split second window. How do we do that?”

“My Bayard…” Lance said. It appeared that once again, Red had an idea of what to do. Black’s console also lit up, telling Keith the same thing.

“Team, we’ve got one chance. Give it everything you’ve got!” Keith yelled. “Lance!”

Keith and Lance both activated their Bayards at the same time, summoning both Voltron’s enormous single blade and the massive Ephemeral Wings that Black had utilised on previous occasions.

Hurtling towards the mech, Voltron struck at its chest just as it turned to attack. The blade struck true, and the mech glowed with an eerie black and purple light before exploding.

Voltron was split apart by the blast, the Lions lying on their sides.

“Anyone? Hello?” Hunk’s voice was weak.

“I’m here,” Pidge coughed.

“I’m here, too,” Keith said, and you also sounded off.

“Blue Lion checking in,” reported Allura.

Lance’s face popped up on the vid-screens. “Did we do it? Did we beat that thing?”

Keith stared at the lifeless mech, lying in the centre of a crater, around which the Lions lay in a ring. “I think so. Atlas, what’s your status?”

There was no response. He tried again. “Atlas, are you receiving me?”

“They’re offline,” you told him, noting that the communication channels were down.

A red light started flashing, and a beeping sound was heard. Lance asked, in a slightly panicked voice, “What is that?”  
  
“Surge indicators,” Pidge said. “Coming from that thing.”

“I thought it was down,” Lance said.

“It is,” Hunk told him. “Oh, no.”

“What?” Lance asked with the voice of someone who is afraid of the answer.

Hunk gulped. “It’s powering up. It must have some kind of self-destruct mechanism.”

“According to my readings, the blast radius alone will envelope half of the Earth,” Pidge reported.

Keith’s face grew set. “Then we need to get it out of here.”

The Lions struggled to their feet, and then moved down into the crater. They lifted up the fallen mech, and began the ascent to the upper atmosphere. It seemed to be taking forever, the Lions still weak from being drained of their Quintessence.

“It’s been an honour to fly with you all,” Keith said, echoing his statement of the very first mission all of you had flown, so many years ago. This time, however, he was determined that none of you would die in vain. “Now, everyone, give it everything you’ve got!”

Every Paladin pushed their Lions as hard as they could go, thrusters burning at maximum capacity.

_‘To the moon and back, Y/N,’_ Keith’s thought brushed your mind. You felt him send all his love along the life-bond, and you returned his sentiments.

_‘To the moon and back, Keith.’_

With a final burst, the Lions pushed the mech away from them. All of you watched, hoping you had done enough to save Earth, even if you wouldn’t be able to save yourselves. But if you were going to die, at least it would be with those you loved.

The mech exploded, and you closed your eyes as the blast hit the Black Lion, sending you into oblivion.

**************************************

The Garrison flag flew at half-mast.

Shiro’s voice rang out, strong and clear. “Today is a solemn day. Today, we look back at the lives that had been lost, and the sacrifices that have been made here on Earth, and across the universe.”

He stared out at the enormous crowd of the Voltron Coalition, all gathered at the Garrison. The Lions sat behind him as he spoke. On the stage beside him were large portraits of the Garrison personnel who had lost their lives fighting against the Galra, including Admiral Sanda. Shiro swallowed painfully, remembering the way his heart had shattered when he’d seen his beloved Adam’s name on the wall of fallen Garrison personnel.

“There isn’t one of us here today who hasn’t experienced the tragedy of losing someone close. It truly feels like a light has gone out in our lives, and the sun itself couldn’t reignite it. But that light, that fire, has not gone out completely. It is fuelled within each of us, by the memories and the love of those we have lost. And now we must move forward, in their names, and shine that light onto a new path for future generations. Today is a solemn day. But it is also a day of hope. Earth is now stronger than ever, and it stands as a beacon of light to help guide those fighting against tyranny and oppression. From here, we will spread peace. And together, we will hold strong, as the Defenders of the Universe.”

**************************************

You could have sworn you heard Shiro’s voice. Groggily, you blinked. Why was it so bright in here? And why did Shiro sound tinny?

Trying to sit up, you fell back with a gasp of pain. Suddenly, you felt large hands grabbing you and gently helping you up. “Sweetheart, you’re awake! Thank heavens.”

You blinked. “Dad?”

“Yes, sweetie. Your mother is here, too.”

“Mom? What… where am I?” you asked as your mother hugged you.

“In the hospital, Y/N. You’ve been unconscious for the past three days.” Your mother looked at you. “Oh, honey, we’ve been so worried.”

“Hospital?” Why were you in the hospital?

The memory came flooding back. The mech programmed to self-destruct. The Lions racing desperately into the atmosphere, hoping to prevent the Earth from being annihilated. You and Keith…

“Keith!” you gasped. “Where’s Keith? I need to get to him!”

Your father held you firmly, preventing you from getting up. “Y/N, Keith is fine. He’s resting in the room next door.”

Searching your father’s face for any sign that he was lying, you saw that he was telling the truth. You felt for Keith through the life-bond, and were reassured when you felt his presence, calm and peaceful as he rested. You fell back against your pillow with a sigh of relief. Keith was safe.

“There’s a rather… _formidable_ looking Galra woman with him,” your mother ventured. “And an extremely large Galra male. They haven’t left his side since you were all brought here.”

“Krolia and Kolivan!” you smiled. “His mother and his… mentor, I suppose you would call him. I’m glad they’re both here.”

The three of you sat in silence for several minutes, before you whispered, “Are the others okay?”

Your father nodded. “Yes. All of you are pretty banged up, but apart from that everyone is safe and sound.”

Shiro’s voice sounded again, and you noticed him on the TV. “Wait, why is Shiro giving a speech?”

“It’s a memorial service for all of those Garrison members and civilians who lost their lives in the fight against the Galra,” said your mother. “We thought it was important to honour their sacrifice, and to remind everyone that it wasn’t in vain.”

You watched the rest of Shiro’s speech from your hospital bed. You swelled with pride at his words. He’d always been able to rise to the occasion, and you were proud of your friend.

Surprisingly, your parents had both opted to stay at your side, instead of attending the memorial service in person. The Admiral’s betrayal had shaken them, and they found themselves reevaluating their loyalty to the Garrison. They had not left your hospital room since you had been pulled from the Black Lion, unconscious after the blast which resulted from the destruction of the hostile mech you had fought.

“You two should have been there,” you said softly. “You’re among the leaders of the Garrison. Your place was up there on that podium.”

Your father shook his head. “No, darling. Our place is here with you.”

Your mother sat on your bedside, holding you close. “We are so sorry, Y/N. We should have told you more often just how important you are to us. You are our only child, and we love you. We should have put you first. We failed you.”

“You didn’t fail me, Mom,” you said carefully. “You just… the Garrison was your priority. I knew that. I just… I wanted to make you proud of me, and instead all I ever did was let you down.”

Grabbing your hand, your father sat on the edge of your bed. “Sweetheart, we _are_ proud of you. So very proud. You saved Earth. Without you, none of us would be here right now. We’re proud of everything you and the other Paladins have done.”

Your eyes filled with tears. Your parents had never told you they were proud of you before, but you heard the sincerity in your father’s voice. They were trying, after all these years, to finally understand you.

“I guess we owe you an apology, Y/N,” your dad continued. “We tried to make you be something you didn’t want to be, instead of encouraging you to be exactly who you are. Commander Iverson and Takashi both understood that better than we ever did.”

“We just didn’t understand that it was more important for you to do what was right, rather than just to blindly obey orders. Maybe if we’d realised that, we would have gotten along better as you were growing up.” Your mother brushed your hair behind your ear, her own eyes filling with tears. “We missed out on so much time with you.”

“Well, I’m here now,” you told her. “And I’m not going anywhere in a hurry.”

Both of your parents hugged you, and you felt that perhaps they could finally learn to accept you just as you were. If so, then you could make the effort to accept them, too.

“I love you, Mom,” you whispered as you hugged your mother. Then you embraced your father. “I love you, Dad.”

“We love you, too.” Your father smiled at you, before a frown appeared on his face. “Now, about you and Kogane…”

You fell back against your pillow with a groan. “Daaaaad…”

Your mother giggled, a foreign sound that made you look at her as if she’d grown another head. “Your father just wants to make sure that he’s going to treat you right. He’s just itching to give Keith ‘the Talk’.”

“Ugh. I am _not_ having this conversation with you right now,” you humphed, causing both of your parents to laugh at your embarrassment.

**************************************

Matt Holt had returned to Earth with the Rebels, and his mother was overjoyed, as was Pidge. You noticed he’d grown his hair long enough to tie in a ponytail, and wondered whether you could convince Keith to do the same. You secretly thought he would look hot if he did.

Hunk’s friend Shay had brought the Balmera into Earth’s orbit, and her people were more than happy to help provide crystals to power the Garrison’s ships.

Rolo and Nyma had arrived to help rebuild Earth’s infrastructure, and so had many of the Olkari and the Blade of Marmora.

Everywhere you looked, members of the Voltron Coalition were bustling to and fro, providing supplies and manpower to help restore Earth, returning the favour that they felt they owed to Voltron for their freedom.

**************************************

You and Keith stood beside Krolia, as she wept over the tombstone of Keith’s father.

Hearing footsteps behind you, you turned to find yourself staring at Acxa. You surprised her – as well as Keith and Krolia – by embracing her warmly, and greeting her as if she were a friend.

_‘Who are you, and what have you done with Y/N?’_ Keith sent his sarcastic thought to you, even as he shook Acxa’s hand in greeting.

You mentally stuck out your tongue at him. _‘Acxa has proven that she can be trusted. You trust my friendship with Griffin, so I’ve decided to trust yours with Acxa. I owe you that much.’_

_‘Have I told you lately how much I love you?’_

_‘Not since breakfast. You’d better remind me.’_

The two of you walked, fingers intertwined, as you led Acxa and Krolia back to the Garrison.


End file.
